TN Wash's Return
by VioletVision
Summary: Ship: As the colony gets restored, Taylor realizes a pulse pistol at close range should make someone fly several feet instead of drop straight to the ground. So, now he needs to find Wash. This is my Happy Ending!
1. Ch1: Dispair and Hope

TN Wash's Return  
>Chapter 1: Despair and Hope<p>

Pairing: Wash/Taylor

Characters: A mixture  
>Genre: Ship and HurtComfort  
>Rating: Nc-17<br>Warning: Sexual Situations…eventually  
>Spoiler Alert: All of Season 1<p>

Summary: Post finale - As the colony gets restored, Taylor realizes a pulse pistol at close range should make someone fly several feet instead of drop straight to the ground.

AN: This is what I believe/hope happened. This is my happy ending. It's the only way I can make sense of what happened because the ship must continue. And, we all know those pulse pistols made Josh fly across the room when he shot that cabinet. I have added things into this fic that stem from actions taking in my other fic of how Taylor and Wash get together – TN Taylor's Temptation.

The day after the Phoenix Group left, Commander Taylor sat at his desk thinking about his last words to Wash. He joked that she needed to stay at the colony to be safe. Oh, how true those words were when he said it. He wanted to keep her away from the action and also knew he would not trust anyone else with the safety of the civies.

And now, she was dead. Yet another woman of his killed by enemy fire while he was forced to watch not able to do anything but despair.

His heart and stomach clenched in pain that threatened to destroy his sanity. He contemplated asking Zoe for another hug. It had helped the first time when he was sitting staring into the fire picturing Wash's face, which he would never see again. Her skin he would never touch again. Her laughter he would never provoke again. She is dead.

Taylor reached down taking the knife out of its sheath and held it in front of him. It was the same knife that he used to cut her clothing off of her the first time they had sex. It was what was going to end his life now.

Jim could handle the colony and had more than proved that. He had told him before when he took command for a few days that he would not want to have to do it all the time.

_Well, there are things in this life that we have to do if we like it or not. _He thought to himself while turning the blade over in his strong hands. No one was here to stop him this time. Wash was not here to stop him this time.

The corner of his mouth stitched in remembrance of when his memory returned after falling ill here at the colony. He realized that his wife was dead and went to slit his own throat to join her. The impact of the knowledge made him feel like life was pointless without his wife. Wash saw what he intended and shot him to stop him from killing himself. He was a little embarrassed after that because Reynolds and Maddy Shannon had watched what happened. But, there was nothing to be done for it.

He remembered flying through the air and going unconscious. Flying…his mind offered then played images of Wash's death.

He growled low with pain as he started to flex his hand over the handle of the knife, but controlled himself remembering something else Wash had told him after they got together. He had a freak-out not being able to find her when they caught the thief siphoning power from their grid. The night she came back he explained everything about his dead wife and son, so she would understand his reactions concerning her safety.

Wash explained that everyone dies, but she hoped that her death would have meaning. Wash further explained that even after death that the things about you that other's absorbed into themselves is a way of continuing to live. He thought of Zoe explaining how Wash taught her survival skills and how to make fire. Yes, he needed another hug.

_She's not really dead. A little piece of her is in each person here. I better put the knife away before Reynolds sees me with it out again. I pulled it out yesterday to cut a line and he put his hand to his gun. The little shit. What was he going to do? Shoot me like Wash if it gets too close to my throat? Just what everyone needs to see is the Commander slitting his throat then being shot propelled though the air. If I do this, it has to be in private. Maybe I should go OTG and search for her body since it's not here. Where is Wash's body? No one found it. They must have dumped her OTG. I could find her and end everything there. _

His mind offered…when you were shot, you were forced back several feet. She was not.

He started to ponder while running his hands over the cold metal in his hands that would soon be his death. _She crumbled to the ground. She did not fly back. The force from the pulse wave from Lucas' pistol should have propelled her several feet. We have not found a body. They carried her away instead of dragging her._

Hope started to take root in his heart as he put the knife away then stood to his feet.

Reilly entered out of breath, "Stop the funeral plans for today. I think she's alive!"

"Explain yourself, Reilly." Taylor barked.

Reilly held out a pulse pistol, "I well, we have been looking for um her body. I even went back to where you saw um Lucas last. I just found this." She held out a pulse pistol.

Taylor examined it noting there were slight alterations to it and there were strange symbols etched into the handle. He recognized some of the symbols as things that Lucas would etch on his belongings claiming them. When he saw Skye again, he half expended to see the same symbols tattooed on her arms. "It's his."

"Remember how the bomb was a newer model. I think this is a newer model pistol that they have not issues to us yet. It has different settings. I tried them out, and the one it was set to was the lowest setting. What if he shot her just to make you think…"

Taylor cut her off, "That he killed her so that I would not come looking for her. It would give him time to interrogate her without any interruptions."

Guzman walked in, "Yes, that's what we thought."

Jim followed close behind him, "I did not tell you earlier, but Elizabeth got me out of the same situation because she caused one of the men to think that she gave him parasites. Lucas may have been making sure that would not happen again. No interruptions. Elizabeth said that Lucas had one of the nurses make a truth serum just after Wash was shot."

Taylor growled out, "You're just telling me this now?" He looked around at the conspirators in his office.

Jim walked closer, "We…we did not want to um bring this to you until we had time to piece everything together."

Taylor spoke slowly at first then his voice became very rapid, "He stuns her and takes her off to interrogate her. Does anyone know where they took her? Did they take her with them when they left?"

Reilly chimed in quickly, "Between us, we talked to everyone. No one remembers where they took her. No one saw her after that."

Taylor straightened his shoulders and adjusted his gun holster, "One way or the other. We need to find her, now."

A/N: Ok, this is my plan to bring her back. I think Fox should use this first chapter to start season 2. What do you think?

(Updated to fix Reilly's name. Thanks for the heads up about the spelling.)


	2. Ch2: Discovery and Confusion

**TN Wash's Return  
>Chapter 2: Discovery and Confusion<strong>

Pairing: Wash/Taylor

Characters: Ensemble

Genre: Ship, Angst, ETA(editing turn around)  
>Rating: Pg-13<br>Warning: Angsty fun, but no death of main characters  
>Spoiler Alert: All of Season 1<p>

**Summary:** Post finale - As the colony gets restored, Taylor realizes a pulse pistol at close range should make someone fly several feet instead of drop straight to the ground. Taylor searches and finds his answer.

**AN:** This is what I believe/hope happened. This is my happy ending. It's the only way I can make sense of what happened because the ship must continue. And, we all know those pulse/sonic pistols made Josh fly across the room when he shot that cabinet. In this fic, Taylor has not professed to Wash that he likes her romantically yet.

After several hours of searching the colony again, Taylor finally took a break at Boylan's bar. He did several shots of single malt Scotch whiskey to feel human again. Didn't work.

"Boylan? Did you hear anything from those bastards about Wash?"

"No. If I do hear any info from anyone, you'll be the first to know. I haven't forgotten about her suggestion to have a statue made in my image. I hope you find her and that she's ok. I like having her around. Since you're rebuilding…"

"It wasn't a suggestion. She was being a smart ass." Taylor's mouth twitched as if he were going to smile. He suspected that was why Boylan said it that way.

_Bastard._

"Surely not the Lieutenant. She was neeeeever a smart ass. Here have another on the house." Boylan poured another shot of the expensive liquor.

As Taylor was setting down the shot glass, his eyes caught movement at the door.

Skye walked in with Josh. The two were talking happily to one another about Boylan letting her have a distillery in the back.

Skye froze in mid step seeing Taylor at the bar. She discovered that she could not find the words to say anything Taylor. Her eyes appeared large and sadly hopeful as if asking for forgiveness.

Taylor remembered everything he was told that Skye had done to save the colony. On over a dozen occasions, she ran interference with Lucas. He recounted the descriptions of how Lucas acted toward her, and how he kept touching her face and hair calling her his sister. She practically threw herself at Lucas as a distraction to save Josh and to arrange the ambush to get Jim into the future again. Taylor respected that she disregarded her own safety to save others, but he would have to talk to her eventually about self-preservation.

Taylor tipped his head to her with a slight smile of approval.

Her eyes fluttered as the sadness dissolved from her face. She appeared on the verge of happy tears as if pent up grief were dissolving.

Josh stood between them looking back and forth as other patrons ignored the interaction.

Taylor strode out unable to find any words to say to her as well, but knew they would talk later. He knew things would be ok between them. For now, he needed to finish his second search within the colony. If he found nothing, he would join the search OTG.

He did not make it far when Reynolds and Jim reported to him that they also found nothing.

Taylor pulled Jim to the side, "Jim, could you talk to Skye for me? Ask her. Well. I need to know if there were any patterns when Lucas questioned her. Location. Types of places. Things like that. She's at Boylan's."

Jim returned twenty minutes later, "She said he would have her brought to the Command Center, or he would follow her to Boylan's. Skye said that he liked to talk to her in places she felt safe then he would intentionally try to startle or scare her there."

Taylor stood there unmoving and gave no indication he even heard what Jim was saying.

_Somewhere she feels safe other than the Command Center or my housing unit? Somewhere she feels safe, so he can use that against her. Somewhere she feels safe that he can twist into a nightmare. So it's not OTG. Somewhere here in the colony we have not search that she feel safe…_

The scowl on his face lightened a touch. "No one searched her housing unit?"

"Um, no. You were there…all night."

"I didn't go inside. I couldn't stand the…" Taylor's voice broke off and he tore out of the room with Jim closely following.

Reynolds saw them running and took off after them, but was not able to gain on them.

"Taylor? Maybe you should let someone else go in there." Jim yelled while pushing himself to keep up.

He ignored Jim as his only focus was his destination and the woman that he now admitted to himself that he loved.

Taylor lunged to the door kicking it open. He spun around several times searching each room before going to the bedroom.

He discovered her unmoving body lying on the floor. The impact of the scene jarred him to the core.

Wash's wrists and ankles were tied behind her back attached to a leg of her bed. Her long dark hair was covering her face.

"Wash?" Taylor breathed heavily. He moved as if in slow motion toward her body willing her to move or look up at him. She did not.

"Wash?"

Jim made it inside the room in time to see Taylor moving Wash's hair from her face.

Taylor was on the floor hovering over her. He jerked out his knife and cut the bonds off of her not able to stand anything that might harm her. Still, she did not move.

Taylor pulled her limp body into his lap and searched her neck for a pulse. "Nothing. No pulse. Wash? Wash?" He started yelling incoherently as rage and loss contorted his face. He had found her only to lose her again.

Jim stepped back unsure of what to do or say as he watched the strongest man he had ever known break in front of him. He was fighting with his own emotions because Wash had been the closest thing he had to a partner here in Terra Nova. Jim staggered a moment and gripped the door frame.

Reynolds entered slowly and moved next to Jim. Both men now had tears in their eyes as they watched Taylor rock the lifeless body in his arms.

Reynolds watched Taylor's heart break before him. Reynolds was reminded of Taylor's reaction when Wash had reminded Taylor, after losing his memory, that his wife was dead. It had been an almost romantic Romeo and Juliet reaction of suicide, but this was much more heart wrenching and volatile.

Jim moved a step forward as if to reach down, "Taylor?"

"Don't touch her! Get the hell out! Get the hell out! She's gone. I couldn't save her. She's gone. You told me to stop that it was suicide. Now, she's dead. I should have acted. It's my fault she's gone. My fault. My fault. My fault. Oh my God. She's gone." His voice started to drop to the point the men could barely hear him as he gripped his arms more securely around her.

"No, you would be dead too. Both of you would be gone. And, they would have found us trying to leave in the vehicles. Her death would have been for nothing. She saved us. She saved my children." Jim whispered.

Reynolds almost dropped to his knees now understanding how close his own love had come to death that day. If Taylor tried to save Wash, Maddy would be dead. He pictured himself sitting there in the floor holding Maddy the way Taylor was holding Wash. He suddenly found it hard to breathe as his eyes burned red with the pressure of it all.

Jim's cop instincts started to function as a timeline of events rolled into focus. "Reynolds. Get Elizabeth. Go get her now."

Reynolds backed out of the room and strode from the unit still half in a daze. He returned some time later with Elizabeth in tow.

Elizabeth gasped putting her hand to her mouth at the sight of Taylor silently rocking Wash in his arms in the floor. Her eyes remained dry, but her face flamed red with emotion.

Jim went to her whispering, "He said she has no pulse. Do you see what I see?"

Elizabeth turned off her emotions and focused as a doctor, "It's been a while. She shouldn't look so…"

"Exactly. We need to get her away from him. He won't let me get near her. I need you to try. Just be very careful." Jim kissed her on the forehead.

"Commander Taylor?" Elizabeth approached Taylor as if he were a Carnotaurus ready to strike.

His wild eyes focused on the sound of Elizabeth's voice as he slowed his rocking motion. "She's gone." Taylor peered down at Wash's face and smoothed her hair back again leaving his hand on the side of her face. His hand delicately pressed her face against his powerful chest. "She's gone."

"Taylor. I understand you say she's gone. I don't want to take her from you, but I just need to check her briefly. I won't hurt her. I won't touch her. Ok?" Elizabeth used her softest voice, while she moved slowly.

He nodded once and watched her with a terrifying intensity that made Jim want to pull her back.

Elizabeth used a handheld scanner to move it over Wash's limp body. Her eyes flashed lively at Taylor, "It's very faint. The scanner can only barely detect it, but she has a pulse."

Taylor's body started to shake as his mouth breathed a prayer, "Save her."

A/N: Ok. I have to take a break for a moment. Ok. She's alive. *closes eyes and starts to feel better for the first time after the finale* Alright, what do you think?


	3. Ch3: Waiting and Reviewing

TN Wash's Return  
>Chapter 3: Waiting and Reviewing<p>

Pairing: Wash/Taylor

Characters: A mixture  
>Genre: Ship and HurtComfort  
>Rating: Nc-17<br>Warning: Sexual Situations…eventually  
>Spoiler Alert: All of Season 1<p>

Summary: Post finale - As the colony gets restored, Taylor realizes a pulse pistol at close range should make someone fly several feet instead of drop straight to the ground. Taylor searches and finds what he's looking for. Now, it is a matter of waiting to see what will happen and reviewing the options.

AN: This is what I believe/hope happened. This is my happy ending. I have added things into this fic that stem from actions taken in my other fic of how Taylor and Wash get together – TN Taylor's Temptation. I am going to try to blend this into what they might have as the opening for Season 2 if they make it. If they make it without Wash, I will have to write this in such a way that she will not be viewed in the eps, and will be regarded as gone…but still be there.

Jim stood in the infirmary questioning Taylor's sanity.

He was baffled as to why Taylor had wrapped the unconscious Wash in a blanket before carrying her to the infirmary. He took her into a quarantine area that was sectioned off in a different area. Jim had offered to carry her because of Taylor's stab wound, but he refused. He made each of them swear out loud that if asked they would say that Wash was dead.

_Is he losing his mind? Has it already been lost?_

Elizabeth exited the quarantine area removing the appropriate gear and strode over to Jim, "You said you searched everywhere. How did you skip her housing unit?"

"Quiet. We were trying to search without alerting Taylor. I told him we were searching for anything the Sixers may have left behind. When we got to her unit, he was sitting against the door holding one of her black vests. He had it pressed to his chest just sitting there gripping it over and over. I asked him if he had a look around, and I pointed to the unit. He shook his head yes then told me to go away. What was I going to do, push him aside and walk right in?" Jim whispered to Elizabeth trying to make her understand.

"No, but couldn't you search it once he was gone."

"He slept there last night. He never left the front door. When he asked me if anyone searched her housing unit, I knew that it meant that he had not. How is she?"

Elizabeth shook her head, "I understand. She is still unconscious with a very weak pulse. I detected an anomaly in her blood. I would have missed it because it shows up as extra iron deposits in her blood, but it was not in her med scan I ran on her two weeks ago. We are doing an extensive scan on it now. We just have to wait for the scan to get some results, so we'll know what we're dealing with."

"What about Taylor? Don't you think it's odd that he is keeping this a secret?" Jim leaned even closer.

"He's in there talking to her like she's awake, which is normal. I asked him why we were lying. He said if Lucas finds out she's alive that he might send someone to finish her off or take her. That might be considered paranoid, but who knows what Lucas might do. All in all, I think Taylor is taking it well." Elizabeth folded her arms remembering how she felt when they brought Jim in unconscious after the explosion. "He's handling it better than I did." Her eyes flashed down then she moved into his arms for a hug.

"Did you hear he's holding off the funeral arrangements till tomorrow?" Jim inquired as they pulled apart.

"Yes, they said the preparations were not ready yet."

"Dr. Shannon, you need to look at this." Nurse Ogawa handed Elizabeth a Plexpad with data on it.

"Nanites?" Elizabeth scrolled over the data. "Inactive in her blood stream."

"Yes." Nurse Ogawa watched Elizabeth closely while whispering. "Everything is ready to try to wake her up."

"Ok, let's go in, and I'll tell Taylor."

Twenty minutes later, Jim and Taylor stood at the foot of Wash's bed and watched Elizabeth and nurse Ogawa start to revive Wash.

"They are going active." Nurse Ogawa hastily told Elizabeth with a hint of concern.

Taylor's communicator beeped, and he checked what it indicated, "There's a breach in this room. I'm able to block the outgoing signals for now." He loaded the information to the Plexpad. "It's coming from…from…Wash."

"She's not gaining full consciousness. We gave her more than enough. Wait. Her heart rate is starting to spike dangerously high. Let's put her back under." Elizabeth worked with nurse Ogawa a few moments then they watched the monitors. "Ok, they're inactive again. Her pulse went back to where it was before."

Taylor watched the Plexpad. "The signal just died."

Jim took a deep breath, "The nanites are sending signals?"

"Looks that way? Guess it's not theoretical anymore." Taylor responded with a flash of anger in his voice.

"What kind of signals?" Elizabeth chimed in while walking over to Taylor and Jim.

"Location and sound transmissions. They found a way to make it work." Taylor tapped on the pad as rage started go flood his body.

_He shot her. He tied her up in her housing unit. He put nanites in her blood. What else? There's always something more with him. He can never let anything go. Chip off the old block, I guess. It always comes back to me. It's always my fault. _

"So, you've heard of this before. Location I understand, but if the nanites are collecting sound they would only pick up on what's in the body." Elisabeth watched Taylor.

"Check her body for any imperfections on the skin. Something new. Something small." His rage intensified. Taylor closed his eyes a few moments then focused on Wash willing himself to calm down. He was trying his best not to start cussing or breaking things, because he knew once he started it would be a while before he could stop…if ever.

_She's alive. That's all that matters. We can deal with the other stuff. She's…alive._

Elizabeth went back to Wash and ran more scans to compare to the ones she did before.

"Here." She moved another device over Wash's ear using lasers to remove what appeared to be a small freckle on Wash's ear. "Ok, it's destroyed."

Jim leaned closer, "What is it? Some type of listening device?"

Taylor nodded, "Yes. Last I heard, scuttlebutt was that the chip outside would collect sound and the nanite bugs collect intel on location. The nanites transmit back all data. They may have bugged her to make her the next spy…an unknowing spy."

"So, they left her on purpose knowing eventually we would find her and wake her up? If so, then they expect to receive transmissions of everywhere she goes and everything that is said around her." Jim wondered out loud.

"Logical, but I'm not sure. Dr. Shannon, you need to find a way to keep them inactive while she's conscious." Taylor went back to Wash's bedside.

"What I gave her earlier should have awoken her completely, but it only partially brought her around. I'm sorry Commander, but I'm not one hundred percent sure we can fully wake her up without causing damage. The nanites may be blocking her ability to fully wake up. I'll need to get Malcolm's help on this."

Taylor nodded.

Jim addressed Taylor, "Reports from the outposts will be in soon. I'll go review them for you."

Taylor nodded again.

Elizabeth and nurse Ogawa collected samples and more scans from Wash before leaving Taylor alone with Wash.

He pulled his chair back over to her bed and sat down. He leaned forward onto the edge of the bed and let his forehead press against her shoulder. His right hand gripped her arm as he closed his eyes and simply listened to her breathing.

The light swish of air that remained constant finally calmed his rage.

_For now, she's alive. Where did we leave off?_

Taylor opened Wash's favorite book on his Plexpad again. She kept it a secret from everyone, even from him, that it was her favorite. She hid it in an encrypted file on her own Plexpad. What she did not know was that he had found it earlier that year thinking it was one of her reports. At first he was shocked at her selection, but then remembered that she too was an orphan.

He started reading where he left off from earlier before Dr. Shannon entered the room with nurse Ogawa, "I suppose you are Mr. Matthew Cuthbert of Green Gables? She said in a peculiarly clear, sweet voice. I'm very glad to see you. I was beginning to be afraid you weren't coming for me and I was imagining all the things that might have happened to prevent you…"

A/N: Not to fear, I already have a way she can be saved worked out. It will just be a matter of getting it typed out. I had to write this chapter over again because it got deleted. I am making copies of everything from now on. What do you think?


	4. Ch4: Communication and Decision

**TN Wash's Return  
>Chapter 4: Communication and Decision<strong>

Pairing: Wash/Taylor

Characters: Ensemble

Genre: Ship, Angst, ETA(editing turn around)  
>Rating: Pg-13<br>Warning: Angsty fun, but no death of main characters, Language  
>Spoiler Alert: All of Season 1<p>

**Summary:** Post finale - As the colony gets restored, Taylor realizes a pulse pistol at close range should make someone fly several feet instead of drop straight to the ground. Taylor searches and finds his answer…Wash. He had to see how extensive the damage is. Now, he has to cope with making a decision and dealing with the possible fall out

**AN:** This is what I believe/hope happened. This is my happy ending. It's the only way I can make sense of what happened because the ship must continue. And, we all know those pulse/sonic pistols made Josh fly across the room when he shot that cabinet. In this fic, Taylor has not professed to Wash that he likes her romantically yet. I am going to try to blend this into what they might have as the opening for Season 2 if they make it. If they make it without Wash, I will have to write this in such a way that she will not be viewed in the eps, and will be regarded as gone, but still be there. I posted then made edits to chapters 1-4.

The next morning, Nurse Jess Ogawa entered the quarantine area where Taylor was still sitting in his chair next to Wash's bed. His upper body was resting on the bed as he slept. She turned to leave not wanting to disturb him as he had practically stopped sleeping when he thought Wash was dead.

"What do you need?" Taylor's mouth moved sounding out the words as his eyes started to open.

"I need to check on your wound. The bandages need changing since you're determined not to use the rapid heal on it." Jess glanced at his side then back up to his face.

"I'm fine. Just worry about her." He stood to his feet stretching out. He winced as the movement pulled on the wound. He put his left hand over the wound on his right side and pressed down. His hand came back with traces of blood on it.

"See. Now, do you want to bleed all over her bed or are you going to come with me?" She folded her arms and peered at him in an insipid manner. She knew no one could make him do anything he did not want to.

"Alright, I'll meet you out there in fifteen." Taylor spoke to her then pulled out his com device, "Guzman, I need you in the infirmary."

"Is everything alright sir?" The com device sounded back with Guzman's voice.

"Yes, just get over here."

"Yes, sir."

Ten minutes later Taylor was laying on his side with his shirt pulled up exposing the knife wound that his son Lucas gave him, "I said just patch it back up."

Nurse Ogawa appeared to be bored and annoyed at the same time, "Yes, and every time I do, you find something to do that rips it back open. Now, let me do this the right way so it will heal quickly. And stop saying its special treatment. It does no one any good to see our Commander limping around holding his side reminding us he is human. Normally, we sedate an individual when we do this procedure to stitch back the wound from the inside out. Will you at least let me do that?"

"No. I don't want to be knocked out. If anything happens, and I'm out…just do it." Taylor refused to leave the infirmary and refused any type of medication because he feared that Wash would be kidnapped or die and he would not be there with her.

"This is going to hurt. Badly. Do you understand that?"

"As always, your warnings scare me. I know you take a perverse pleasure in my pain. Just do it." Taylor almost enjoyed his little snarking with nurse Ogawa. She was such a small thing and could not even weigh a hundred pounds, but she was bossy.

Most people caved to her. Taylor was not one of those people.

"I don't want to see you hurt. That's why I want to sedate you." She fussed moving the instruments around to display her annoyance with this common occurrence and enjoyed every second.

"Not going to happen."

"Yes, I know." She raised the instrument and glanced at his eyes with real concern this time. "Let me know if you need me to stop. And don't say not going to happen. Let me know ok?"

"Alright." He tried to relax his body knowing that the stitching procedure that starts within and works out to close off and heal the wound would feel worse than when he first received the stab.

Half way through the procedure as Taylor was trying to deal with the feeling of hot daggers scissoring in his side, he watched Skye walk in with her mother.

They had their arms around each other. One of Skye's hands rested on her stomach. Taylor noted that Skye was nervous and jumpy as Elizabeth showed them into a room off to the side.

When the nurse was finish, Taylor sat up pulling down on his shirt when the three women came out of the room.

"Ogawa, do ya know what's going on?" Taylor inquired quietly.

She responded the same, "Not sure. Something about well um something about Lucas."

"What about Lucas?" His quiet voice took on a deep scratchy reverberation.

"Elizabeth said that because of what happened between Skye and Lucas that she needed me to remove Skye off of the shift rotation for two days." She put up the instruments and went to wash her hands.

He peered up to see Skye almost in tears with her mother's hand on her shoulder, "Ok."

Elizabeth hugged Skye, "Everything's taken care of now. Go rest."

All three women fixed their gazes on Skye's hands as she tugged her shirt down more firmly in the front and ran her hand down the shirt one extra time before leaving.

Taylor thought of all the possible things that it could mean. He did not like any of them.

Guzman chose that exact second to peek out of the quarantine room's antechamber, "Sir. If I have to read, can I read something else? I have some great classics like the In Death Series by J.D. Robb or Team of Rivals by Goodwin."

Taylor turned and glared at Guzman, "No." His eyes went to the door then back to Guzman.

Guzman appeared desperate then disappeared back inside.

Elizabeth saw that nurse Ogawa was done with him and strode over happily, "We have an idea."

"Uh hu well, I have one too. Just because I've been distracted by Wash doesn't mean that it's ok to leave me out of the loop. When were you going to talk to me about this Lucas and Skye thing?"

"Well, it's not my place to tell." Elizabeth looked a little haughty.

"Is she ok?" Taylor's scowl dissipated as his concern showed though.

Elizabeth moved closer, "Yes, physically she's ok. It might take her some time to heal from the emotional damage, but it will help now that I removed it. You know? Constant reminders and all that." She held her hand over her stomach and circled one finger.

"Removed it?" His mind only registered the words emotional damage and removed it.

"Yes, the procedure is quick. I've done hundreds of these. Skye's a strong young woman and very resilient. I gave her a few days off to settle down from it." She spoke matter of fact.

"So, it was Lucas? He hurt her? He's the one that…" His words trailed off as Elizabeth focused on him more intently nodding yes.

"Yes, it was Lucas, but she did it to save my son. Josh asked her how she got him out because Lucas said he was going to kill him. Josh said she told him about it. She asked Lucas what it would take to get Josh out of there. He just pulled her over to a table saying what he was going to do. Josh said Skye told him that she nodded yes and went along with it. Josh then suggested she come to me for help to take care of it."

Taylor felt baffled at how easily Elizabeth spoke about the abortion of his grandchild. He was struck stupid.

"She asked for help, and of course I said yes. I've gotten very good at removing tattoos. You can't even see that it was wrapped around her belly button." Elizabeth felt awkward for a moment knowing she was talking to Lucas's father. She kept the men in such separate categories it was hard sometimes to see them as father and son even though their eyes were so much alike.

"Tattoo?" Taylor felt confused and wondered if nurse Ogawa had slipped him something without him knowing.

"Yes, I got rid of the tattoo that Lucas put on Skye. It looks like one of the ones from his hand gun. Poor thing, she felt like some type of trader for playing up to him, but I told her it's taken care of. She has a clean slate just like her tummy. What's wrong?"

Elizabeth's eyes darted to his side expecting to see blood, but the shirt was dry.

"He didn't attack her…sexually?" Taylor's eyes were wide.

"No. No. Just the tattoo, thank God. I was thankful beyond words that she saved Josh, but I told her to stop risking herself like that. He likes her, and it was just a matter of time before it went that far. He had already started grabbing onto her."

Taylor had broached the topic with Elizabeth already, so he had to finish it out. "What about Wash? And, I'm not talking about tattoos. Were there any signs that…signs of trauma of that kind?"

"No. I checked when I did the exam. Nothing to indicate anything like that happened to her. No. No. Mira was very firm with the men that they were to leave us alone." Elizabeth suddenly smiled up at Taylor, "Come into quarantine. We have an idea about how to help her."

After five minutes of Elizabeth and Malcolm talking nonstop, Taylor only heard, "Blab la blab la nanites external matrix wakka wakka blab la blab la the parasites replenish bla blab la consciousness blab la blab la…"

Taylor had finally had enough about the time that Guzman picked up the Plexpad and preferred to read Anne of Green Gables instead of trying to follow the conversation. "Folks. Medical folks, bottom line it for me."

Elizabeth held a tan fruit with red and green zigzags on it up to a scanner, "Basically, this fruit is commonly called the death pear as you know, and it produces small amounts of iron which the parasites that live in it feed on. The nanites have a fake covering shell that makes it look like iron, and they also have iron parts. We think that if we put the parasites into Wash's blood stream, they will eat the nanites. The problem is that the parasites will start multiplying in abundance once they detect a readily available food supply."

"Ok, will the parasites hurt her?"

Malcolm stepped forward, "We hope they will see the nanites as larger deposits of iron like our scanners do and just feed on them. If not, they will start eating the iron in her blood. Then we will be dealing with nanites, parasites, and her having very low levels of iron. But, we have ferrous sulfate to help with her iron levels, but we might just then be feeding the parasites making them multiply even more. We inspected some of the nanites and portions of them are not functioning properly. We believe the nanites were damaged by the introduction of the truth serum in her system. So, we have to be very careful what we inject into her. But, there is no way to know if the parasites will cause the nanites to malfunction even more. We hope they will not have some type of built in defense were they will flee further into her body to avoid the parasites."

Taylor squinted at him.

"Uuumm the answer is we hope not." Malcolm swallowed audibly.

Taylor remembered the fruit because he had it added into the survival training for all new colony members. They were all shown one and told never to eat it because the parasites in it would eat the iron from their bodies not letting them have enough red blood cells to carry oxygen around.

Taylor leaned forward, "I remember you sectioned off for research into the parasites in case someone eats one. So how do we kill the parasites if the nanites start reacting to them or to kill them once they complete their task?"

Elizabeth set the fruit down, "We have an agent isolated from the tree's sap that keeps the level of parasites down. We have altered it, and in tests it kills the parasites. But, we have not tested it on anyone yet."

Taylor clasped his hands in front of him as he leaned back to some extent. "This is the best way?"

Malcolm and Elizabeth glanced at each other a moment then looked to Taylor. Both of them shook their heads yes.

Elizabeth spoke up after about a minute of silence, "We cannot wake her up without her heart rate spiking to the point of death because of the nanites. They transmit anyway. Our equipment does not pick them all up. When they went active, almost three times as many showed up on the scans. There is no way we can manually take them all out. We even tried a blood transfusion. They detected the increased blood flow and attached themselves to the vessel walls. So, we have to destroy the nanites. The only alternative is to leave her as she is for now, but the nanites are doing damage on their own. There's no way to predict how they will act over time. Already, some that attached to the blood vessel walls tore the walls when they let go. We had to do repairs to over half of her body including her heart."

Malcolm lowered his head then gazed at Taylor, "You have to decide if we should move forward with this. If you want us to move forward, then you need to tell us now before the nanites can do more damage."

Taylor shook his head yes. Malcolm, Elizabeth and Guzman knew that shaking his head did not mean yes to take action, but only that he understood what they were saying. "I need a few moments. Alone."

"Certainly." Malcolm picked up his Plexpad and followed the other two out.

As Elizabeth explained the situation to Jim and nurse Ogawa, Malcolm looked at his screen noticing that he picked up the wrong Plexpad. He glanced over what was on it, "What's Anne of Green Gables?"

Guzman walked by taking it out of his hands. "What it is, is not yours." He went to a chair and could not fight reading the next area to himself. "We're pretty near home now. That's Green Gables over… Oh, don't tell me, she interrupted breathlessly, catching at his partially raised arm and shutting her eyes that she might not see his gesture. Let me guess. I'm sure I'll guess right…"

Taylor stayed in the room with Wash sitting at her side again. "Wash? Alicia? I need to make a decision that could kill you faster rather than later, but it might give you a chance. I have to guess which one might help you the most."

He reached out holding her forearm as he closed his eyes. His hand slid up to her wrist feeling for a pulse. It still unnerved him that he could not feel it. He slid his hand back up her arm feeling the warmth and focused on her very light breathing instead.

He pictured the parasites not eating the nanites and then having both eating at her body. The nanites might try to get away tearing apart her body and the parasites would follow. If mused that if he says yes and the attempt fails, it's his fault when she instantly dies. It's his decision.

_She's possibility damned if I do and damned if I don't. It always comes back to everything is my fault. _

He sat like that for over fifteen minutes before speaking to her unconscious body. "I know. Can the chatter. You'd want a fighting chance. You would wake up just long enough to kill me for letting you lay here for weeks only to let it slowly kill you. You would find a sick humor in the parasites eating the nanites then the parasites being killed by the fruit it lives off of. You would welcome the battle and take the odds as opposed to just laying there. Listen to me. If this happens, you can't give up. Do you hear me? Don't give up? That's an order."

He pictured her saying Yes Sir while flipping her hair. He opened his eyes with a chuckle and patted her arm.

"Well, Lieutenant Alicia Washington, get ready to fight."

Taylor exited the room and told them to proceed as soon as they could be ready.

A/N: Ok, let's try to wake her up again. I actually had someone ask me a question at work today and I gave an answer. The person's reply was, "That's too much jargon. All I heard was blab la blab la wakka wakka bla blab la. Simplify, it for me." I almost died laughing thinking he sounded like Fozzie the Bear. I thought to myself. Ok, that's going in the fic. What do you think?


	5. Ch5: Fighting and Helplessness

**TN Wash's Return  
>Chapter 5: Fighting and Helplessness<strong>

Pairing: Wash/Taylor

Characters: Ensemble

Genre: Ship, Angst, ETA(editing turn around)  
>Rating: R<br>Warning: Angsty fun, but no death of main characters, Language, Blood  
>Spoiler Alert: All of Season 1<p>

**Summary:** Post finale - As the colony gets restored, Taylor finds Wash is alive.

**AN:** This is my happy ending. It's the only way I can make sense of what happened because the ship must continue. I posted then made edits to chapters 1-4. In this fic, Taylor has not professed his romantic feelings for Wash yet.

Taylor glared at the medical technician that was assigned to him for the duration of the procedure. "Keep your mouth shut unless I look at you then explain what's happening. Got it?"

The technician looked confused not knowing if he was suppose to answer or not because Taylor glanced over to Wash who was being situated on the table. His eyes took in the slightly swollen state of her face and neck as worry ratcheted up a few notches in his mind.

Taylor turned back to him, "Cruz?"

"Yes, sir Commander…um." He was about to explain why he did not answer but stopped when Taylor raised his hand.

"It's ok, son. We're all a little jumpy. Just when I look over to you, explain what's happening ok?"

"Yes, sir." Cruz visibly calmed and then focused his attention to the center of the room where Malcolm was attaching sensors to the side of the medical bed that the technicians along the wall would be monitoring and interacting with once it began.

Elisabeth stepped to the bed with nurse Ogawa at her side, "Remember, monitor your area and use the computer sighting for any nanites that try to run from the parasites once the computer is able to site them. Forward all problem areas in yellow to Ogawa who will then see if we can assist or if it needs to be forwarded to the ancillary unit in the next room. Only forward the critical areas in red to me. I will monitor the yellow and the activations until there are red areas. And people…there will probably be more yellow areas than you're use to when we get into this, so work quickly."

Elisabeth saw several technicians glancing from their screens to Lt. Washington's face. Emotions would then waver in their eyes.

"Ok, everyone. Focus on your individual tasks and we'll see her through this." With that, Elisabeth activated the medical bed causing a purple glow to form over Wash and the screen over the bed signaled it was ready.

Elisabeth nodded at Ogawa, and both ladies sent and received messages back and forth between all of the pathways of communication to each tech team that would be assisting with tracking the nanites and parasites. Each responded in turn signaling that they were ready.

Everything was quiet as Taylor watched the room filled with technicians pressing in commands. Skye caught his eye then went back to arranging reserve equipment. He turned to Cruz.

Cruz's voice quietly explained, "They are broken up into teams. Each has an area of her body to monitor. One section monitors a certain part of her body for areas where the nanites might be causing damage and forwards the areas to three groups simultaneously. The first group repairs the Lieutenant's blood vessels while the second group injects extra serum with the parasites in a higher concentration in that area to kill them off. The third team starts trying to kill the nanites at the same time that the parasites are killing the nanites, well if they can. Nurse Ogawa gets reports on areas where the techs are not able to keep up. She can send it to another team waiting to help them in whatever area of the body they're working on, which are yellow areas on the scanners. Critical areas out of control are the red areas. Dr. Shannon will watch over everything focusing on her brain till there are red areas then she will work on that herself and with her teams on the other side of the room.

Taylor nodded and his right hand reached then rested on the handle of his gun that was strapped securely in its leather chest harness.

The tech glanced at the gun then back to the room. He repeated the action several times. He was trying to think of a way to tell him that he could not have weapons in the surgery area.

Taylor leaned closer without looking at him. "It's just in case."

Cruz looked over the handgun again then to Taylor and gave in to curiosity. "In case of what?"

"Trouble." The single word was stated as if it explained everything.

Cruz stumbled over his next words not knowing how it would be perceived. "Um Commander sir, the kind of trouble that will…um might happen can't be fixed with guns."

Taylor cursed in his mind repetitively because he already felt useless, which was a feeling he had only felt around Wash once she was wounded and his now dead wife. Having it pointed out did not help. "In case of attack."

"You think Luc…um someone might attack her here?" Cruz barely whispered.

"There's a reason why we are keeping her being alive a secret. You got me, Cruz? So, just as I told Shannon…the gun stays and so do the guards inside the exterior doors."

Cruz nodded far too many times then instantly became very interested in what was happening on the medical bed.

A simultaneous tone sounded at all of the stations and the screens flashed green and held the color.

Taylor started to feel the tension in his muscled ratchet down a few notches because he knew the generated hologram above Wash's bed was a visualization of the battleground in her body, and he could now watch the combatants in action.

Twenty-some minutes into the procedure, the nanites were active, but the parasites were doing their job destroying them. The first yellow area appeared and Taylor watched as transmissions were sent and received by the teams with little beeps.

The yellow area grew then was stabilized before shrinking.

Dr. Shannon made small repairs to Wash's heart when needed if a nanites entered the area. The only sound of communication was the beeping of communications received.

Taylor admired Dr. Shannon's efficiency at the total lack of verbal communication, which could cause distraction and misunderstandings with so many people working on one project at the same time. He watched Dr. Shannon, Ogawa, and Hendrickson send out messages and then he glanced around at the beeps to know who was working on what area.

Taylor leaned in close to Cruz and whispered "When the aerial bombardment obliterates them then does our infantry occupy and barricade an area? Is that the plan?"

Cruz blinked a few times before responding. "They try to herd them out of sensitive areas like the organs then stop them from coming back. Less damage that way."

Taylor nodded yes. "Pursuit?"

Carted blinked a few times again. "Um."

"Hammer em when their down."

Cruz smiled understanding and nodded yes.

"Patrol?" Taylor squinted wondering if there were personnel looking around for possible new activity of nanites that did not immediately become active at first.

Cruz pressed his lips together contemplating then pointed to the corner of the room where no beeping was happening.

Taylor nodded then whispered again. "Where would you be if I wasn't here?"

Cruz shifted his weight from foot to foot looking at the floor then back up almost smiling. "Reconnaissance."

Taylor tipped his head to the side in question.

"I was in the group where they put amounts of iron into an area where the parasites are out of control to lure them all into one area so they can be…" He paused thinking, "Taken out. I switched to that team after first being…" He stopped talking again to try to think of a military term to use. "…drafted into the research and development group that helps the computer identify the nanites when they are active and inactive."

Taylor viewed Shannon as a Commanding Officer directing a small battalion or battlegroup. He watched her use her screen to delegate to her trusted Second-in-Command Ogawa and her operations officer Hendrickson as she maintained a defense operation around Wash's brain and spine, which now included her heart. Together, they moved her forces through the battle using one enemy against the other with precision. Taylor viewed the personnel who administered the parasites to be armored infantry and the personnel directly attacking the nanites to be the artillery. He also found a strange humor in viewing the people in the other room who were using their computers to kill out the parasite when they were no longer needed as being in charge of aerial bombardment.

The beeping sped up again, and Taylor scrutinized several yellow areas that were popping up on the screen and growing.

Taylor watched Dr. Shannon and nurse Ogawa's eyes lock. Dr. Shannon nodded once then went back to her controls. Ogawa's hand ran over her own controls and beeping started in one of the other rooms.

He leaned back taking a few steps and watched as troops in one team entered the battlefield. Taylor stepped to an empty table behind him and removed his side arm and holster then went back to Cruz. He was feeling aggravated and did not want to accidentally shoot anyone who didn't really deserve it.

For the next hour, Taylor clenched and unclenched his jaw consumed with frustration because he knew he could not join in the fight. His heart was beating fast as if he was running into a breach where the enemies were in a concentrated killing frenzy.

By the end of the second hour of the procedure, reserves were brought in from another room and the initial team went into the lobby area. Taylor became furious and nudged Cruz with his elbow to get his attention as he tried very hard to stop himself from yelling orders at the deserters.

Taylor's gravel voice slipped out between tightly thinned lips. "Where they goin? Taking a break."

Cruz grimaced thinking one of his ribs might be broken from the impact. He was thankful he was already leaning against a wall or he believed he would have flown across the room.

"Um…It's not really a break. They are going to tell the other team what types of strategies work for when they're needed. Uuuuummmm…training to um make them more effective. They'll only be used if…" Cruz stared into the Commander's icy blue eyes a moment, "If it gets to the point that the newly trained personnel are needed to help."

Taylor noticed Cruz's tanned skin lightened and knew he stopped himself from saying anything about Wash's possible death.

Taylor took a deep breath trying to slow down his breathing and reminded himself that Dr. Shannon knew what she was doing. He knew that in her own time that people speculated that angels must follow her around in surgery because she could seem to work miracles. When the impossible was done, they called it pulling a Shannon. It was one of the reasons that the top medical facilities on the planet tried to woo her to work for them. Instead, she focused on who needed the most help. And of all people, Wash needed it now.

Taylor whispered to himself. "So glad I didn't toss Jim OTG when he got here."

"What?"

"Nothing."

Taylor nodded and went back to watching and kept adjusting his stance every few minutes desperately needing someone to shoot. Finally, he braced his arms on the silver medical table in front of him and for the first time since his wife's death, he said a short prayer.

Cruz took a step away and tried to give him some space and was thankful that a crew had taken down some of the non-load bearing walls for the procedure because it gave more room.

After around thirty minutes of intense combat, a red area broke out near Wash's heart that continued to grow even with Dr. Shannon's direct intervention.

Taylor took a few steps back again looking into the other room and found that the team that left was already on consoles doing their part. He noticed some that were standing there next to them watching what was happening. He wanted to order them to help, but stopped himself when he heard a beep and they sprinted to their own controls.

Taylor watched the hologram of Wash's body above her and imagined nanites digging out of her blood vessels causing bleeding into her chest cavity. "Bastards."

His eyes drifted down to Wash's unmoving body on the table. He pictured parasites following the nanites causing larger bleeds in the vessels and chewing parts of her body on their way to the nanites who were digging all over that area of her body. His emotions threatened to flood over him again, but he pushed it back.

He almost asked Cruz what type of damage was being done to her heart, but when he opened his mouth other works came out. "Don't stand here fucking with me. Go help damn it."

Cruz tripped and almost fell trying to get away from him knowing that Taylor was no less deadly without the gun.

Taylor realized his voice rose and he closed his eyes dreading if his outburst had distracted anyone. "Sorry. Just go help."

"It's ok. I understand. I'll help." Cruz joined his team.

Taylor opened his eyes to see Dr. Shannon's head slightly tip to him, but her eyes never left her screen.

A loud tone sounded in the other room and three guards walked into the doorway appearing awkward staring at Taylor.

"Shut up or I'm out of here. I got it." Taylor nodded at the men to leave the room. He could have punched himself in the face knowing that he was distracting Dr. Shannon. He felt his heart skip a beat and he held his breath. He turned back to the holo-screen over the bed and whispered, "Thank god." The red area was decreasing despite his outburst.

He believed it was the end of the battle until the displays in color on the holo-screen showed him it was only the beginning of the war. New nanites lit up on the screen that had been inactive and the areas went instantly red.

Chills ran over his body as adrenalin and anxiety coursed with unending supply much like the nanites. Taylor clenched and unclenched his jaw stopping himself from yelling out son of a bitch several times. He kept pressing his teeth together knowing that speaking could distract the troops and Wash's life would be forfeit to the enemies. Sweat dripped down the sides of his face as every muscle in his body flexed as if bracing for an impact.

Taylor scanned the room watching as they lost control of the nanites and the parasites. Nausea and dizziness struck him as his mind started unbidden playing footage of memories of other times when Wash almost died then of him finding her on her floor tied up. He tried to blink it away as he gripped the table to remain on his feet. Images started to filter in of his wife's bloody death as she pleaded for her son's life. Taylor managed to shake it off when he heard a woman's soft voice.

Dr. Shannon started murmuring quietly. "No, no, no, no, no you're not doing this. I won't let you."

Her voice rose with command and authority that expected to be obeyed as she continued to doing her job on her screen without falter. "Massive iron in the hands…now! Give me thin trails leading back into the body to draw the bugs there. Ogawa put her fully under because we can't handle any more nanites. Hendrickson get the nanites. Stop putting new parasites in her. Roberts, Patel, Holmes, and Cruz make the computer understand how to detect and kill nanites…faster. Confirm."

The individuals called by name then responded in unison. "Confirmed."

Taylor knew that usually she sent it over her controls and the word confirmed was what they sent back to say they got the message. She was so busy with her hands that she could not stop to even type out the message, so she said it out loud. He marveled at her ability to organize them and give orders without it slowing her progress on her screen, which he had been told took total concentration or you could accidentally kill the patient. And by the way a few individuals glanced at her, others in the room were thinking the same thing that Dr. Shannon was awesome.

Wash was fully sedated again when the parasites started swarming her hands where the large deposits of iron were placed. New pockets of nanites stopped showing up.

Taylor leaned forward when Dr. Shannon swiped her hands across her controls and they went to Ogawa to use the computer to attack the parasites. His eyes went back to the hologram view of Wash's body that hovered over her seeing that almost half of her body was lighted in red and only a few small areas were in green. Ogawa had told him before they entered the room that if more than half went red that usually meant there was no coming back from it. Taylor knew from reviewing Dr. Shannon's record that she had the highest rate from bringing things back from that point.

Several people gasped as Dr. Shannon brought up manual controls on her holo-screen and held her hands up directly to it. Almost no one used the manual controls because the computerized medical bed system was more efficient and you could slice someone's body parts off just by a sneeze causing your hands to shift.

Taylor felt total confusion until he saw that everywhere her fingers touched the holo-screen lasers flashed killing parasites. She let each finger touch one at a time then left them there. He knew if her fingers went farther into the holo-screen it caused the lasers to penetrate deeper, but would only zap at the exact point where her finger tips were. The computer could focus on parasites then zap them, but Dr. Shannon kept the lasers on non-stop and just moved them around constantly killing somehow avoiding splicing veins and muscle.

He leaned to see big blown up areas of Wash's wrists on her screen and Dr. Shannon moving her fingers around like she was typing with her fingers. His eyes flicked to the counter Ogawa had of the number of parasites detected that were alive start to drop drastically as both women worked on the area.

The red areas around her body started to decrease as the digging nanites in her body were destroyed and as the parasite went to her wrists and were killed. The red areas diminished and half of the yellow disappeared as they gained control again.

When the parasites were almost all gone from that area, Dr. Shannon let Ogawa take that area completely over. They were back in the green and the recovery teams were finalizing there areas when Dr. Shannon did repairs to Wash's heart and lungs.

Dr. Shannon stepped back and rolled her shoulders then walked over to Taylor. "It's not over, but the computer knows how to detect and destroy nanites and kill parasites now. We'll do this again and see how many nanites become active. The worst is over."

Taylor nodded not trusting his voice at this point. His neck was no tense it felt as if the muscles were not long enough to allow for nodding. His control over his emotions was shattered, so he used his blank military face to cover what he was feeling.

"We're going to take a short break then go again."

Taylor nodded walking up to her bed and fought not to start crying in front of everyone. He delicately held her hand hoping that she would squeeze back, but knowing she would not. The burning sensation in his lungs intensified till he noticed he was holding his breath and let it out. His eyes felt as if they were on fire with unshed tears as his mind offered that she was still alive, but his heart churned at the state her body was in laying as if dead on the bed.

He leaned over resting his elbows on the bed and whispered. "The worst is over. Just hang in there Alicia. Don't go anywhere I can't rescue you from. That's an order you hear?"

Taylor breathed in shakily as he noted all the discolored patches on her skin where blood had pooled and at her eyes that were puffy and black as if she had been hit. He closed his eyes feeling like they were on fire from the pressure that was building behind them. He knew his son Lucas was responsible, but he felt guilt knowing that Lucas had not been the same since his mother died at the hands of his enemy. "I know it's not an excuse, but a reason why."

Taylor contemplated that he had almost been able to save his now dead wife, and he was almost about to lose his second in command who had recently became more to him. He told himself he would tell her his feelings for her once she got better. "Things always have to be so close. Nothing's easy, so don't expect this to be easy. I can't help you fight, so it's up to you and Elisabeth and her teams. You're not alone."

After three more attempts and several hours, it appeared they had destroyed all of the nanites and parasites. The teams sat down in the floor once she was stabilized the final time and all the repairs that were possible were done. Some gave up and just lay down on the pristine floor.

Taylor walked forward to Wash's side again, reached to put his hand on her swollen arm, and stopped himself not knowing if it might hurt her. He flinched at the up close sight of her. She appeared twice as bad as before, and it was difficult to recognize her with all the swelling and blotches.

Tears fell from his eyes landing on her shoulder as he lowered his head to whisper. "You did good, Wash. You did good. Hang in there." He stayed like that for an hour just watching her breath and watched her heart beat on the monitor. He sat down in a chair offered and let the side of his hand touch the side of her arm and repeated over and over to himself that she was alive.

Dr. Shannon did minor repairs when needed and when she was sure Wash was completely stable she turned to Taylor. "We need to rest."

Taylor stood up and spoke in a shaky voice. "I'm not going to leave her alone. You said she could wake up any time now. Not likely, but it could happen."

"You need to be strong for her, so you need to rest till she wakes up. Then you can stay with her every second." Ogawa added.

Shannon turned to Hendrickson's slight frame and saw that of the group he was the least affected by the last several hours. Dr. Shannon knew that Hendrickson was probably not feeling the emotional strain because he did not know Wash as well as the others.

He responded to her glance. "I can keep an eye on her. I'll come and get you the second she wakes."

Ogawa pulled another chair to the other side of Wash's bed, glanced over her shoulder to Hendrickson, and spoke in a playful voice, "Don't fall asleep."

Hendrickson shook his head and sat down looking over the monitor.

Guzman entered the room with a plexpad. "I sent Jordan to tell Jim and the others, and for them to only talk about it in doors. Oh here…read this to her. It helps." He handed the Plexpad to Hendrickson.

Taylor glanced at the screen squinting. "That's not Anne of Green Gables."

"No. We finished all of them that we have. Maddy is trying to find the other books now, so instead Maddy said that Wash would like the In Death Series. I managed to find two of them."

Taylor put his hands on his hips. "In Death? Death?"

Guzman opened his mouth but nothing came out as Hendrickson held up the Plexpad unwilling to keep the Plexpad till it was alright with the Commander.

Ogawa interjected. "Reilly reads them. So do I. It's about this dark haired woman murder cop detective who is tall and thin who kicks ass and takes names. She's good at her job and bosses people around. Don't you think she'll like it?"

Taylor almost asked them to read the Anne books that they had read to her over again, but let it go. He was back to nodding again and started to feel like an idiot because of it.

"Taylor, Ogawa, Guzman…Let's go to my office. Come on Taylor. She needs to rest, and so do you." Dr. Shannon told Taylor.

As they walked out the door and across the building, Ogawa commented to her superior with a sassy bounce to her voice, "I've never seen or even heard of someone doing that before. You went all manual X-men on the controls. You have strong Kung Fu."

"I like going Rouge, but I won't do the hair streak thing. Maybe I will be her for Halloween. Well, anyway it's what I do for a living, so I better be good at it." Dr. Shannon spoke in dry humor then started to relax her tight control on herself.

"What work miracles?" Ogawa said playfully sarcastic.

"I used my fingers to pick up the lasers and put them down into her body where they would kill the most. You know…up and down." Dr. Shannon smirked wondering if Ogawa would remember the vid they watched a week ago about ancient commercials.

Ogawa pulled open Dr. Shannon's office door and held on as to not fall in the floor laughing as she pictured Dr. Shannon as a brainless body builder. "Oh My God …You pick things up and put them down!"

Both ladies laughed with the relief that Wash was alive and that they did not kill her or let the parasites or nanites kill her. Guzman smiled at Ogawa as if noticing her for the first time. She looked back at him with a wink.

Taylor felt blank. He was completely drained after he had experienced every intense emotion that a human possibly could for several hours on end. He followed them knowing that Jim would join them in a few minutes. He decided to get something to eat and drink then come back.

Back in surgery, Hendrickson began to read to Wash. "Ok, chapter one. She woke in the dark. Through the slats on the window shades, the first murky hint of dawn slipped, slanting shadowy bars over the bed. It was like waking in a cell. For a moment she simply lay there, shuddering, imprisoned, while the dream faded."

Hendrickson stopped and noticed for the first time what he just read and looked to Wash. He wondered if she had woke like that in her room tied up and alone.

"Go on." A voice in the corner of the room sounded.

Hendrickson noticed that Cruz was the one that spoke. He saw several others had pulled up chairs around Wash's bed and along the walls. A few were passing out drinks and snacks as he contemplated reading again. Roberts kept close check on Wash's monitor, so Hendrickson was not as worried about falling asleep now.

He finally decided to keep reading. "After ten years on the force, Eve still had dreams. Six hours before, she'd killed a man, had watched death creep into his eyes. It wasn't the first time she'd exercised maximum force, or dreamed. She's learned to accept the action and the consequences. But it was the child that haunted her. The child she hadn't been in time to save. The child whose screams had echoed in the dreams with her own."

He stopped thinking that Wash could feel that way toward the Terra Novans she could not save from the enemy bombardment that took over the colony and forced her to surrender before more civilians were killed, "Naked in Death might not be a good idea, so I'm going to try the other one called Ceremony in Death. Ok. Chapter one…Death surrounded her. She faced it daily, dreamed of it nightly. Lived with it always. She knew its sounds, its scents, even its texture. She could look it in its dark and clever eye without a flinch. Death was a tricky foe, she knew. One flinch, one blink, and it could shift, it could change. It could win."

A scratchy soft voice cut him off. "Whacht?"

Every eye in the room turned to the medical bed knowing that Wash was awake and just spoke.

They were frozen in place as she opened her eyes half way.

Wash's whole body jerked as if she was struck by electricity then her eyes closed. Bright red blood started draining from her nose and the monitor showed her heart stopped beating.

Roberts stepped back from the bed. Nurses scrambled off the floor into action.

Cruz jumped to his feet working his controls. "There are three groups of them. Very small. Missed them somehow I guess cause I don't know where they came from all of a sudden."

Sarah Patel focused the lasers on the computer and entered codes to allow the medical bed permission to destroy them. "They're in her brain. They're digging. The computer is taking too long. Something's wrong with it."

Hendrickson took off running for Dr. Shannon's office screaming at the top of his lungs knowing only one person could save her. "Dr. Shannon! Dr. Shannon!"

Patel held her hand over the manual override and could not bring herself to do it knowing she had never practiced using the device that way.

"Just do it." Holmes barked from across the room trying to get her own devices to work.

"And fry her brain? No." Patel pulled her hand back.

Cruz fumed. "Someone caused this. Everything can't go down all at once like this. Someone tampered with the equipment maybe while we were passing out the food."

Dr. Shannon ran into the room. "Where?"

"Brain. Three groups of them. Nanites." Cruz offered.

Dr. Shannon read the screen quickly and turned the manual device back on and held her fingers up to the screen one at a time. Almost everyone held their breath as she maneuvered the lasers to destroy them.

When she turned around to ask what had happened, she noticed the gun pointed into the room. "Oh My God."

Taylor had his sidearm out and pointed at Jeffery Roberts. "Don't ask the angels to help him. Save them for Wash."

Dr. Shannon had no idea what Taylor was talking about and wondered if he finally snapped.

Cruz pointed at Roberts. "He was at her bed when it happened now he's trying to leave."

Roberts stammered. "Try ttttrying to go to my housing unit."

Taylor advanced on the younger blond man pressing his gun to the man's head, but held his trigger finger in line with the barrel as to not accidently shoot the man before he got answers, "To do what exactly?"

"She's my sister." His nerves were gone and seemed calm now holding his hands up in the air.

"Alicia is not your sister." Taylor countered with his deathly arctic voice and with a press of the gun.

"Not her. But, I'm doing this for my sister. I had to tell him. He took my sister and said if Washington cannot act as an info gatherer then she has to die. He said then I had to kill her then myself or he would kill my sister…slowly. Now he knows Washington is alive, so I had to kill her. I'm doing this for my sister." Roberts reached down with both hands gripping the gun tighter against his head and put his thumb in the trigger to pull it.

Taylor realized what the man was doing and pulled up hard enough just in time for it to go off over the man's head not into it.

"I'm doing this for my sister." The man sounded desperate.

Taylor jerked the gun out of the man's hands then hit him over the head with it. Taylor stood over his unconscious body. "You said that already."

He looked over at the medical teams trying to fix the damage the last three groups of nanites did.

Dr. Shannon glanced up at him with a squint.

Taylor hated to think that his son Lucas was the man Roberts was talking about, and Taylor could not think of what else to say. "He was repeating himself. He was hysterical. And no, I'm not removing the gun from medical. And no, I haven't lost my mind."

Cruz spoke up. "It's just in case. Um someone else has any sisters."

Dr. Shannon turned more fully to both men squinted then glanced at the gun then went back to working on the holo-screen.

Cruz wilted under the glare. "I don't have any sisters."

Dr. Shannon pursed her lips, but didn't look at him.

Taylor put his holster on and replaced the gun. "I hate it when people repeat themselves. I told you there could be trouble, and I was right." Taylor jutted his jaw out stubbornly.

He half expected her to point out that him saying that he already said there would be trouble then saying it again now was him repeating himself. Taylor stopped when he realized Dr. Shannon was ignoring him again.

He stepped closer to the bed. "Ok, someone tell us what happened."

Cruz shook his head, "Looks like Roberts nabbed three small groups of nanites in the confusion then while we were passing out food disabled all the equipment then injected each group of them into her brain."

Jim walked up behind Taylor and clasped his hand on the man's shoulder. "Elisabeth. How bad is she?"

Dr. Shannon did not look up at her husband, but answered. "Not good. I managed to keep them away from her brain before, but these three buggers started drilling in her brain. Not good, but she'll live. Now quiet."

Taylor and Jim stepped back and only heard the occasional beep over the next two hours.

Dr. Shannon put her hands on her hips. "Jim."

Jim Shannon raised his eyebrows at her.

"It's seven o'clock. I'm staying here for the night." Her eyes went to Taylor and back. "Can you pack up some of our things and grab some more food? I don't think I'll be able to rest unless I stay right here with her and neither will he."

Taylor nodded at Jim.

Guzman, Mark Reynolds and Maddy Shannon were at the arch way. When Taylor tipped his head to them, Guzman took a step farther into the room. "Maddy here has more In … um more of the series books."

Maddy stepped closer with her Plexpad appearing hopeful. "I could read to her if you like. Josh is at home with Zoe. I promised Zoe I would come read to stop her from coming."

Taylor scrunched up his face looking grumpy and hated that he was back to nodding again.

Hendrickson spoke up walking toward her. "I just started chapter one of Ceremony in Death. I left off here."

Everyone felt completely exhausted, but could not bring themselves to leave, so they tried to get comfortable.

"Someone get him out of here." Taylor meant the unconscious man in the floor, but the man walking in the building thought he meant him and went on the defensive.

"I brought supplies. No charge." Boylan walked in with several of his staff handing out food and beer.

Taylor sat down with a beer in his hand then murmured making it a statement. "Will wonders never cease."

"What? Wash's the only one that thinks I deserve my own statue. She's gona be round to help me get it too. That alone deserves a small token of my thanks. Besides she saved the kids. Least I can do is feed everyone tonight…this once."

Taylor rolled his eyes then turned to Guzman. "Triple the guards. Warn the sentries. Lucas knows."

"Done. No signs yet." Guzman took a sandwich.

Boylan sounded strangely serious and angry. "Doesn't mean anything. Don't forget he has it in for Josh too. And me."

Taylor growled. "You?"

"Who do you think directed Wash to which guy had the right security controller to shut it off to get the kids out?"

Taylor nodded again then closed his eyes thinking to himself if he nodded one more time today he would shoot someone. Then he thought about how badly he had wanted to fight or shoot someone today and when the opportunity arose he stopped it from happening. Now, he was back to wanting to shoot someone and Boylan showed up.

"Perfect." Laughter erupted from Taylor's lips.

Almost every one appeared shocked but Boylan. "I'm important enough for someone to want to kill me."

"Boylan, for once, I agree with you." Taylor shook his head and ran his hand over his face with a chuckle.

Taylor downed the remainder of the beer then addressed the young woman smiling at him. "Maddy, my dear. If you please?"

Taylor had a soft spot for Maddy and her younger sister Zoe just as he knew Boylan had a soft spot for their brother Josh who was apparently home watching Zoe.

Mark pulled over a chair for her and Maddy started reading. "Ten years as a cop hadn't hardened her toward it. A decade on the force hadn't made her accept it. When she looked death in the eye, it was with the cold steel of the warrior. Eve Dallas looked at death now. And she looked at one of her own…It was helplessness she felt in the room and that she felt in herself. You couldn't raise your weapon to fate, or your fist."

A/N: I picked the first book and typed out what it said then thought about it and changed the end part of this chapter. It surprised me they had a traitor in their midst. I was going to kill him, but decided not to kill Roberts after all…yet anyway. I looked at 3 other In Death book chapter one's before picking the second one. I like the way it goes with things. It feels like I worked on this chapter content forever, and then tried to fix any typo errors. I said tried. If you have not read the In Death Series, I recommend it if you like murder mystery cop books. What to do next? What to do with the next chapter? What to do next? *looks around wondering if Taylor will show up because I repeated myself*

If you like something, please review! It makes my world spin around. Memory loss…yes or no?


	6. Chapter 6

**TN Wash's Return  
>Chapter 6: Awake and Speechless <strong>

Pairing: Wash/Taylor

Characters: Ensemble

Genre: Ship, Angst, Adventure  
>Rating: R<br>Warning: Blood/Gore, Language, Angsty fun, but no death of main characters  
>Spoiler Alert: All of Season 1<p>

**Summary:** Post finale - As the colony gets restored, Taylor finds Wash is alive. Now that Dr. Shannon has done all she can do, Taylor wants to speak with Wash if she would only wake up again.

**AN:** This is my happy ending. It's the only way I can make sense of what happened because the ship must continue. I posted then made edits to chapters 1-5. In this fic, Taylor has not professed his romantic feelings for Wash yet. I give you humor then gore.

Taylor shook his head then looked down at Wash for the hundredth time in two minutes. "What I am asking is what did she say when she woke up a few days ago before I got to the room. Reynolds just mentioned that you said she spoke. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"Yes."

"Then what did she say? I want the exact words she said when you were all there and Roberts tried to kill her." Taylor tried to remain patient and not shoot the man in the arm out of frustration.

He held himself back only because he knew Dr. Shannon would give him the look again. After all, he had already pistol whipped Roberts a few days ago when he tried to kill Wash.

"What." The man replied trying to be as exact as possible because he saw his own death in the Commander's eyes.

Taylor squinted one eye at Cruz knowing that he was seconds away from just shaking him. "Yes what?"

"What."

"I want the exact words Wash spoke. What did she say?" Taylor inched forward almost growling.

"What!"

Dr. Shannon entered the room at a brisk pace after Hendrickson explained that someone was about to die in Medical. "For gawds sake she said the word What. At least they said it sounded like the word what. Now Taylor, Commander Taylor stop scaring the medical team half to death. In Cruz's case, I believe he is almost there now."

"She said the word what?" Taylor put his hands on his hips.

"Yes sir Commander Taylor sssssir." Cruz's shaky voice slurred.

Taylor stopped himself from saying to the man then why didn't he just say it because he had obviously had been.

Guzman grinned thinking of an old black and white skit he saw on someone's Plexpad. "Who's on first?"

"Take IT outside." Dr. Shannon reviewed Wash's medical log from the last hour seeing more improvement.

Guzman took a step forward toward Taylor. "Come on sir."

"I'm not fighting anyone or hurting anyone, so I don't have to take it outside." Taylor ignored Guzman and scrutinized Dr. Shannon's reactions to the log.

"No sir. She means take you outside. You are the IT." Guzman hid his smile and tried to give his blank military face.

"It?" Taylor raised his eyebrows causing his forehead to scrunch.

"That was your procedure name during the surgery. If she signaled IT then everyone knew she meant you." Cruz quickly offered as he returned to his duties.

"It?"

Dr. Shannon finally turned back to him and held a smile on her lips that was inched up on one side. "Bloody easier to signal then Commander Taylor isn't IT?"

Taylor knew she emphasized the word it on purpose and all of the tension left his body. Banter was the first sign of positive recovery in Medical. He knew it was a very good sign. "IT."

"Yes, IT needs to leave so we can give her what equates to a bath since we can't submerge her in water." Dr. Shannon turned off the holo-monitor and went for the door way.

Taylor turned on his heels and followed her and Guzman out. He paused just before leaving and scowled at Cruz.

The man quickly dropped the sponge and followed the Commander out leaving the women to tend to Wash. "I was just going to hand it to them."

Taylor kept watching him but didn't speak as only his eyes moved following Cruz's movements.

Cruz saw Taylor's mind going into overdrive as he knew the Commander's protective instincts toward Wash were in murder mode.

Guzman pulled up short. "We have a Slasher group terrorizing an outpost, a Carnotaurus leaving tracks across one of our supply routes that now leads to the South, and Roberts professing his undying loyalty and intel if we save his sister."

Taylor appreciated his now number two officer trying to give him options for blowing off steam. "None of it sounds appealing." He glanced down at his feet then back up. "All I want to do is stay with Wash and make sure she's breathing."

"And you have been doing that for days now. He hasn't shown up." Dr. Shannon did not mention the he by name. "Chances are we are in the clear. You need to rest now. I'll tranq you if I have too."

Taylor tipped his head to the side knowing it was not an empty threat. He saw that same expression of determination on her face that she held when she was in surgery. He knew he was emotionally compromised because of Wash and it always caused him to be distracted and off his game.

"Fine." He nodded up and down in an exaggerated fashion knowing that 'the he' had not given up but was probably waiting for an opening. "Extra guards Guzman. As many as you can spare. I'll be in Com Cen."

"No. You will be in your housing unit sleeping. You have been up for over two days now." Dr. Shannon tapped a fingernail on an infuser that could deliver a tranquilizer. "IT needs to sleep."

"Fine."

**Six hours later:**

Taylor woke out of restless sleep gun in hand pointing toward the door.

"It's me!" Jim yelled at him holding his hands up. "They're gone."

"Who's gone?" Adrenalin coursed through Taylor waking his body up and sending him to his feet as he put the gun into its holster.

"Guzman, that bastard Roberts, Wash…and Elisabeth. Five guards are down, but alive barely. He took them."

Taylor didn't need to know the he that was being talked about was his son Lucas. "When?"

"I have them looking over surveillance, but it has been tampered with. Best we can tell is South wall at the new gate maybe four hours ago." Jim followed Taylor out.

Taylor stopped walking. "Four hours? No one noticed for four hours?"

Jim shook his head no all the while thinking that there would be little reason for Lucas to keep his wife alive and feared she was already dead. He kept reminding himself he could have just had her killed in Medical and taking her meant that he must need her for some reason.

Taylor saw the glint and momentary spaced out unfocused expression on Jim's face and knew what he was thinking. "He needs her. Hell, we all need her. He's not going to kill her."

Both of them knew he was talking about Elisabeth.

"Wash and Guzman on the other hand are liabilities. Bargaining chips at best." Taylor pictured them both being shot in the head and left for Slashers to feast on and shred apart. "Where's the trail?"

"No trail yet. They just got there. I came to get you while Reynolds' team started surveying OTG." Jim picked up his pace when Taylor went for a transport.

"You could have just radioed me." Taylor got in and did not wait for Jim to fully get in as he started to speed off.

Jim managed to hold on and get into a seat. "It was turned off."

Taylor nodded seeing that it was only thirty minutes until dark and OTG would be deadly for most especially with the predators that had been causing problems that week. He wondered if it was just a coincidence.

Taylor instantly activated his radio com. "Reynolds! Get your team back in the gate ASAP."

"Sir. We think we have picked up a trail of where they left and are in pursuit." Reynolds' young but firm voice sounded.

"I said inside the gate. Now! That's an order."

Jim continued to grip the vehicle knowing he was losing feeling in his hands as he held on while Taylor slid around curves. "What?"

"No not what…who." Taylor nearly missed a man carrying building supplies.

Jim thought about it for a few moments and the south side of the Terra Nova was where the Carno tracks were found. "He is causing the Carnos and Slashers to attack and stalk outside of their usual hunting grounds to cover their escape."

"Exactly." Taylor activated his radio com again. "Reynolds. ETA to gate."

"Ten minutes, Sir."

"Double time it. You have a Carno hunting you. I'm almost to the new gate in a Rhino Transport." Taylor saw the gate come into view in the distance knowing it was the new one that was installed after Terra Nova was taken over by the enemy.

"Copy that." Reynolds voice was strained and it sounded as if he were running.

Jim scanned the tree line trying to find where his future son in law was fleeing for his life. "There."

Taylor followed Jim's pointing hand and saw a team of six just inside the trees. His eyes lifted to see in the distance behind them that a few trees moved. "Open the back hatch. When I jump out, get the men."

They exited the gate slinging dirt in every direction.

"Jump out?" Jim just noticed the trees and knew that a Carno was closing in on them and quickly.

Jim complied with the request. "There's not enough time to get them."

Taylor shut off his emotions and focused on what could be done. "Maybe not for all of them. They'll be too close when it hits. Take the wheel and I'll get the survival kit. With one or more Carnos out here and it getting dark, a group would never survive. I'll track them. I'll bring our people back."

Jim went to protest just as Taylor moved out of the seat. Jim quickly took over control of the vehicle and saw Reynolds leading his team out of the trees.

"If I miss that him…after you get the men, hit that bastard in the side. Take one leg out. I'll do the rest. Come back tomorrow at first light and follow me if you can. There's no telling if other Carnos are out here or if the Slashers are, so don't risk anymore lives. Get my men back to safety and lock Terra Nova down."

"Do you need me to slow…" Jim glanced up in the mirror.

Jim shook his head seeing that Taylor was already gone. "Reynolds. I'm half way across the field. Keep coming."

Jim saw Taylor in his mirror as he raised an anti aircraft missile at the group.

"Copy that."

"Uuuuh I didn't know he had one of those." Jim changed his focus on the men who were getting closer. "Reynolds. You're about to have a missile shot over your head and the Carno is behind you."

"Missle?"

Jim speechlessly watched as the Carno broke through the trees and sprinted toward the group. He knew the dinosaur would get to them seconds before he could, and a second was all a Carno needed to snap a person in half.

In the oncoming darkness, a blast of light flashed back his vehicle and smashed into the dealer of death that loomed over the men with snapping teeth the size of their hands.

Fire. Shrieks of pain from torn and singed flesh. The beast was down, but not dead.

Jim stopped at the men who were lying on the ground from the force of the explosion and helped them one at a time into the back of the vehicle as the Carno's tail flailed around them.

He wanted to help Taylor and go after his wife. He knew if Elisabeth was dead then he could not risk his own life and leave the children alone.

His mind flashed to Zoe and how hard losing her mother and father on the same day would be to her. She was already having nightmares that zombie dinos and Sixer vampires were killing Terra Novans at night while everyone slept.

He knew he would have to trust Taylor to save his wife as Taylor was now trusting Jim to save his men.

Reynolds was on his feet and pulling the last man into the vehicle hatch when everyone paused to look at the Commander.

Taylor had his tactical knife that was usually strapped to his leg in his hand and was approaching the beast's head.

Jim got behind the driver's seat knowing that the long knife would not penetrate the massive animal's thick skin. "What's he doing?"

Reynolds strapped himself into the passenger seat and felt his arm where his armor was ripped and blood slowly trickled. "Killing it. What are the orders?"

"ITG till first light and then find him if we can." Jim's voice lost its volume as he turned the vehicle around then paused to watch Taylor again.

Jim was momentarily frozen and unable to move or speak as he watched Taylor climb onto the Carno's snout as it tried to snap its razor teeth down onto him.

Taylor gripped the beast with one hand as he was lifted up into the air by its massive head. His growl of fury and determination mingled with the killer's roars of rage.

Reynolds leaned forward. "It's getting up."

Before Taylor could be bucked off, he slammed his tactical knife down into its eye. He felt his body being jerked from side to side as he leaned into the hilt pressing it and his arm into the eye socket as blood sprayed.

Jim and Reynolds opened their doors and held guns at the thrashing scene in front of them. They could not get a clear shot because of the movements.

Jones offered from behind inside the vehicle. "Aim for the legs."

Reynolds remembered a speech Taylor gave them his first week there after a woman was killed. "No. It falls. It crushes him. He dies. You have to cause damage to the head…something to do with the spine."

Taylor's deep voice rumbled over the roar of the Carno. "Gooooooooo!"

Jim lowered his gun and got back in the vehicle. "Damn it."

The Carno was fully on its feet and made for the trees.

Reynolds got back in the transport when he spotted Slashers in the distance. "We need to follow his orders. Slashers."

Jim angled the vehicle back toward the gate causing the Slashers to ignore them and follow the wounded Carno. "Doesn't feel right."

"He knows what he's doing." Reynolds refused to look back and could not make eye contact with Jim because he was not as sure as his voice sounded.

"I know. Have a new team ready before first light and radio in now to lock down the gates. No one out." Jim started thinking about what he would have to explain to his children when he got back.

When they arrived at the gate, Jim noticed that half of Terra Nova was standing there watching him pull to a stop. He absently wondered if this was how Taylor felt just before he gave one of his speeches.

As the gates closed, Jim stepped out readying himself for how he was going to explain that their Commander was even now riding away from Terra Nova on a bleeding charred Carno being followed by Slashers while Lucas was holding hostages…again.

**A/N:** Mayhem! I want to thank everyone for your reviews and messages. I hope you like this recent development. Let me know. I am posting then moving on to the next chapter. OTG anyone?


	7. Chapter 7

**TN Wash's Return  
>Chapter 7: Down and Out <strong>

Pairing: Wash/Taylor

Characters: Ensemble

Genre: Ship, Angst, Adventure  
>Rating: R<br>Warning: Blood/Gore, Language, Angsty fun, but no death of main characters  
>Spoiler Alert: All of Season 1<p>

**Summary:** Post finale - As the colony gets restored, Taylor finds Wash is alive. He is now trying to kill a threat and pick up the trail before total darkness.

**AN:** This is my happy ending. It's the only way I can make sense of what happened because the ship must continue. I posted then made edits to chapters 1-5. In this fic, Taylor has not professed his romantic feelings for Wash yet. I'm starting out this chapter with Taylor and sticking with him on the OTG rescue.

Taylor's arms were burning from exertion, and he knew he would not be able to hold on much longer. But he held on.

The beast under him ran flat out smashing into trees which slapped into him ripping at his clothing and skin. And he managed to hold on.

He was covered in the Carno's blood. He heard the Slashers closing in with ravenous shrieks now because of what he was covered in and the chunks of burned dead skin and muscle the Carno was leaving behind with each demolished tree. Taylor knew that if he fell the Carno would snap him in half with his jaws out of sheer hatred and the Slashers would then chew on the left over pieces. So he forced his body out of sheer will to hold on.

Taylor opened his eyes when tree branches stopped ripping at him. There was a sticky feeling as the blood seemed to want to keep them closed. As his eyes stung, he made out the river up ahead.

It was time.

He never released his grip, but started grinding the long tactical blade against the Carno's skull at the base of its eye socket where a small hole was already at.

There was a moment of give and he knew that the long knife sliced through the hole in the bone into brain matter. Taylor quickly pulled the blade out and concentrated on holding onto it.

The Carno's foot touched ground again one last time and it's spine straightened causing it's head to snap up as it fell the to the ground in death.

The force of the motion and the speed at which it was running catapulted Taylor into the air while still gripping his weapon. He was flung backwards toward the water, and he only had time to breathe in once before the splash of water engulfed his body into the river's depths.

He was thankful that the dry spell had slowed the current allowing him to put his blade back in its holster. By the time he was done, his lungs tried to force him to breathe in while still under water. He resisted and swam for the surface.

Taylor felt his head emerge and he gasped for air. His electric blue eyes fixed on the shore that was now farther away thanks to the current. Several Slashers were ripping apart the carcass.

"Better you then me." Taylor's already spent arms shook as he made it to the opposite shore.

He lay in the mud rolling over once to cover any trace of the blood that was still on him so other dinos would not smell it or him. When he pressed down, he felt several cuts on his back and shoulders sting from the contact.

He got to his feet knowing he only had about ten minutes left of light.

Taylor moved into the darkness of the trees and walked down stream. He frantically tried to pick up the trail on his side of the bank. He was sure they would need to cross if they were going back to the Badlands.

He quietly whispered. "What if they're not?"

In the last moments of light, he found an etching that was scratched into a tree. He lowered to inspect the design that was close to the base.

A wide smile broke out over his lips when he recognized the scratches were one word and he said it out loud. "IT."

He lowered to the ground and found a stone that was just slightly moved from the grove that it had originally sat in for untold years. It was a small but sharp rock that pointed off to the side like an arrow toward rocks.

"All right Dr. Shannon." Taylor whispered almost all air as he steered his course away from the water.

The captors had obviously tried to keep them in areas where it would be hard to detect a trail. In the dim light, he would not have noticed it if it was not for the marker and he knew he would not have seen it at all if the dinos trampled the rocky area at night.

He climbed the nearest large tree once he found the trail and saw that it was an almost straight path. "Cocky aren't ya?"

Taylor slept intermittently and woke just before first light. He allowed himself to become attune to his surroundings before he opened the pockets on his cargo pants where he stashed supplies from the survivor pack.

He removed the canteen that was strapped to his left leg and took a slow sip before returning it. He then paused listening for any changes in his surroundings. When he heard nothing new, he injected himself with a med infuser that delivered vitamins and antibiotics.

Once again, he paused and listened. Nothing.

He ate jerky and radioed in with the volume almost off. "November Tango here."

"Copy." Jim was trying to use as few words as possible if any of Lucas' people were listening.

Taylor closed his eyes and thought to the map they created when they lived OTG when Lucas took over the colony. It was mapped out like a chess game.

He was on the other side of the river so he indicated that. "White."

"Copy." Jim brought up the map and only focused on one half of it.

"Doc's move says G4 to H3." Taylor knew that Jim would understand that Elisabeth had left him a sign in G4 area saying to go to the H3 part of the map.

"Copy."

When Taylor climbed down from the tree, he tore off several underbrush leaves and dropped them kicking rocks as he went for a few steps. He mused he was leaving his own sign for Jim to find.

Once he was sure it was obvious where he was going, Taylor changed his gait and the way he was stepping down as to not alert any nearby dinos to his location.

Taylor paused after an hour of tracking them when he saw another displaced stone that seemed to point in another direction. He turned and saw indications it was the direction someone took.

Taylor was able to move more quickly because moved rocks showed up every time there were sign that they changed direction.

A few hours later his radio com clicked. He clicked back twice.

Jim's voice sounded. "H2."

"Copy. K negative 4." Taylor knew Jim was still on the board and he was off of it, but guessed that Jim could follow along.

"Copy."

Taylor mused that Jim and his men were moving a little slower down the trail, but they were headed in the right direction.

He heard the rumble of a man's voice, but it was not coming from his radio. He instantly clicked it three times knowing Jim would understand it meant he made contact.

At the sound of a vehicle door being closed and a shout, Taylor sprinted forward with his pistol in hand.

He rounded a Rhino Transport to see Elisabeth on the back of a large man who was wearing a Phoenix paramilitary uniform. The man was trying to keep her hand off of his face while her other hand reached for his sidearm.

"Bitch. I'm supposed to keep you alive, but I've had enough!" The Phoenix operative let go of the hand holding her nails back from clawing his eyes out and reached back for her hair.

Taylor did not have a clean shot, so he started forward grabbing his knife from his calf holster.

The brute had her by the hair pulling her around just as her hand gripped the gun.

Taylor pulled him in a half circle then stabbed his knife up under the man's ribs into his heart. The mountain of muscle fell forward taking Elisabeth down with him. Taylor was able to side step.

In a tangle of limbs, she managed to keep the gun and now held it up at Taylor about to fire.

"It's Taylor." His deep voice boomed knowing at this range there was no way she would miss if she shot.

"Taylor?" Her eyes were out of focus from where she hit her head during the fall.

"Yes and Jim's getting close. Where's everyone else?" His heart still hammered in his chest from the exertion, but felt as if it would break if she said Wash and Guzman were both dead.

"Jim's close." Her mind started to clear as she lowered the gun.

"Elisabeth? Can you still hear me?" Taylor was completely focused on Elisabeth to the point he didn't notice the men approaching them.

Elisabeth lifted her head to answer him when she saw the movement and pointed the gun squeezing the trigger. The shot went wide and hit the man in the shoulder.

Taylor already had his gun out and fired instantly shooting two men in the chest dropping them to the ground.

Elisabeth shook violently and lost her grip on the gun.

Taylor approached the man she shot and removed his weapons then found a tie to restrain his wrists behind his back. He knew the man could get out of the restraints if left unattended, so he dragged him back to Elisabeth.

He watched Elisabeth's face. "Where did they take them?"

"My back was to them. I think…I think Wash made a run for it and they followed her. Guzman broke free and tried to help her. They were ordered not to kill me, so it worked out. I just managed to get out of the transport when you got here." The dizziness from the fall was messing with her ability to concentrate.

"Where are they?" Taylor asked the man on the ground.

Taylor's mind kept replaying her words that Wash ran off. His mind chanted she was running. Alive. Awake. Running.

The brown haired man grit his teeth and showed them to Taylor determined not to speak to the enemy.

Taylor turned more directly to the man and shot him in the leg. "I said WHERE are they?"

Taylor ignored Elisabeth's flinch when he shot the man again. "What direction?"

Nothing.

"You're going to run out of limbs soon. Direction!" Taylor leveled his gun at the man's other leg.

"North East. Over there." He pointed in a direction toward a clearing.

"I'll help him." Elisabeth tried to sit up straighter, but only slumped.

"No. I will."

Elisabeth heard Taylor's gun go off again and she knew the man was dead. She also heard the vehicle door open and she felt herself lifted into it.

"Elisabeth. I need you to stay here while I go after them. Take the gun back. Are you ok enough for that? Here can you use their med kit?"

"Yes yes."

"How many more are there?" Taylor inquired.

"Three. No two. Roberts is dead. I got out of the vehicle when he killed him. I tried to stop him. I got out too late."

Taylor took a deep breath seeing the other body on the ground. "You tried. And you would have had his killer in a few more moments. You got his gun. Here take it back."

"You killed him." Elisabeth's eyes lost focus.

Taylor knew he could not waste any more time, and took an extra knife he found in the vehicle preparing to leave. "Yes. I got him."

"Not him. You killed the one who was tied up. You killed him."

"He was going to get lose eventually. I couldn't have him killing you once I leave. Do you understand?"

Elisabeth slowly nodded yes and opened the kit. She ran an assessment on herself while Taylor shut the door locking her inside praying none of the men would make it past him to her.

He felt guilt leaving her, but for now she was safe which was more than he could say for the others.

Taylor moved off in the direction and radioed Jim to let him know to look for the vehicle when he got there with his men.

It was an easy trail to follow that went toward the field. He ran flat out when he heard gun fire in the distance. His mind kept whispering to him that Elisabeth was too late and maybe once again he was too.

He fought back with the knowledge that he saved Elisabeth and put it aside to focus on the scene before him.

Two men in paramilitary uniforms were dead.

Guzman was holding his hands out to his sides and stepping slowly toward Wash.

Taylor was so thrilled at seeing her with her eyes open and standing on her own that he ignored Guzman's obvious caution.

"Wash. Thank gawd. Are you hurt? Guzman you ok?" Taylor slowed as he finally noticed what was happening when he made it to Guzman.

The other man's back had blocked his vision from seeing the knife in Wash's hands. Fear crept up his spine like Jack Frost on a window…cold and ever spreading.

A/N: I don't know if anyone noticed I worked the words "in death" into the scene where the Carno died. I had to reference back to the In Death reading from the other chapter. Taylor drenched in blood then water while being King of OTG…nothing hotter. Ooh the possibilities for the next chapter.


	8. Chapter 8

**TN Wash's Return  
>Chapter 8: Traveling and Marveling<strong>

Pairing: Wash/Taylor

Characters: Ensemble

Genre: Ship, Angst, Adventure  
>Rating: R<br>Warning: Language, Angsty fun, but no death of main characters  
>Spoiler Alert: All of Season 1<p>

**Summary:** Post finale - As the colony gets restored, Taylor finds Wash is alive. Guzman and Taylor try to help Wash adjust.

**AN:** This is my happy ending. It's the only way I can make sense of what happened because the ship must continue. I posted then made edits to chapters 1-5. I give you Wash awake and ready for a fight.

Guzman's voice was low and quiet. "I don't think she knows us. Memory loss?"

Taylor tried to step forward, and she swiped the knife at him. "Wash. Alicia. It's me. Taylor. It's Nathaniel. We're not going to hurt you."

Her large whiskey brown eyes darted around, and she took a step back. "Wacht."

Taylor blinked a few times then spoke quietly to Guzman. "Brain damage?"

She swiped the knife again almost catching Guzman. "Coordination is fine."

"She's holding the knife wrong. Maybe it is memory." Taylor held his hands out to the side as well then raised his voice. "Alicia. Do you remember us?"

Wash took a few more steps backwards. "Yakto wacht."

Both men were stunned not knowing what she was saying.

Wash kept backing up and they advanced all the way to the trees on the other side of the field.

She shouted strange sounds at them while waving the knife then took off into the foliage.

Taylor held out his hand at Guzman motioning to the side. "Go back to Dr. Shannon. I locked her in the vehicle."

Guzman ran alongside Taylor as they darted around trees. "What if Phoenix shows up?"

"Right. Start making your way back with Dr. Shannon in the vehicle and radio Jim. Radio me when they find you. I'll get Wash."

Taylor lunged over a fallen tree when Guzman broke off and ran back to the vehicle.

"Wash?" Taylor yelled after her as he watched her long black brown hair flying behind her.

He was exhausted already from not sleeping well and lack of food then the ordeal with the dinos and Phoenix. Running after Wash not knowing if any predators were near watching them rained additional mayhem on his system.

Taylor determined he would run after her till he literally dropped unable to move or breathe.

He feared that she had memory loss and some type of damage to her brain. She needed medical attention not a run in the woods.

"Wash stop!" Taylor knew he was losing ground because of how tired his body was and the fact that she was a natural runner who kept the records for distance and time.

When he was reaching his end, he saw her fall to her knees then the ground. He made it to her and turned her over feeling for a pulse.

"You're ok. I've got you." He panted for air and spoke to her as he reassured himself by feeling her pulse in her neck beat strong against his fingers. "It's ok Wash. I've got you now."

Taylor inspected her for wounds and didn't find any. He was also pleased to see a lot of the bruising and damage from the surgery was almost unnoticeable, but he could still make a few marks out.

"Wake up." Taylor spoke softly to her as he cradled her in his lap. "Come back to me."

After a few minutes he worried dormant nanites somehow remained hidden and took this opportunity with the increased endorphins and adrenalin in her body to activate and start harming her again. He had no defenses or way to save her if it was true.

"It's ok."

Taylor took out his radio com. "Juliet Sierra."

"Copy." Jim responded.

"You com'ed…with Golf." Taylor had to pause to breathe.

It took Jim a minute to recognize that the military word for G meant Guzman. "Yes."

Taylor grit his teeth as he felt his leg act like it was going to cramp up. He wasn't moving Wash, so he ignored it. "I need medical for Whiskey and ETA for you and Golf finding one another."

"ETA twenty." Jim replied intentionally not mentioning medical because he would have to ask where Taylor was and if Phoenix or Lucas was listing they might make it to them faster. If they had a lot of troops on the ground, Jim knew Taylor and Wash would not survive.

Taylor rolled his shoulders knowing that as well when Wash's eyes opened.

"Wash? It's ok."

Wash let out a half scream half growl as she fell backwards trying to get out of his lap and his strong arms that clutched her.

Wash felt her back lean against a large tree, and she stopped struggling as much.

Taylor watched her with hope as she stilled and he equally let her go, but stayed within a few inches of her. He took several deep breaths trying to calm his heart from all the roller coaster emotions he was feeling.

Taylor responded to Jim when Wash sat completely still on her own.

"No. Medical may not be a necessity. Golf will explain." He thought to himself if he had to weigh the pros and cons of giving an indication of their position it was better not to give away their location since she seemed to be mostly alright again.

"Copy."

"You and Milner after I sent him." Taylor tried to let Jim know what he wanted. He was trying to reference how Jim went after Milner OTG after Taylor banished him. Jim found Milner and brought him back to Terra Nova on his own.

"I understand." Jim's voice was steady.

"Copy." Taylor went to put the radio com away.

Wash reached forward, snatched it from his hand and smashed it on a rock.

Taylor stopped himself from yelling damnation at the top of his lungs and whispered it instead.

"That was our only communicator."

Wash replied with several words he did not recognize.

"I can't understand you." Taylor took a translator disk out of a pocket and turned it on hoping it would recognize the language. He guessed maybe it was one from her childhood.

It came back negative for any known language.

She reached as if to take it from him when it beeped quietly. He held it back.

She got louder and shouted a few sounds at him.

"Ssshhhhhhhhhh." Taylor lowered his hand with his palm flat toward the ground.

Wash flipped her hair to the side, licked her lips then shouted what sound like words again.

Taylor grumbled in anger. "Quiet. Do you understand anything I'm saying or the danger we're in from Phoenix, Lucas and Carnos? Hell even some of the plants and bugs might kills us. And you, running around oblivious to the mortal danger we are in and now yelling. I doubt we'll make it back alive. I should have tied you up and dragged you back to the transport."

Wash squinted and leaned forward listening to him. "Carntos."

She peered around for a moment scrutinizing the trees as if a Carnotaurus would show up behind one.

Taylor stopped fuming and used his hand to mimick the way their jaws snap shut. "Carnos."

He switched the disc to detect new languages.

Her voice was still scratchy. "Carnos."

Taylor nodded. "Yes."

Taylor stood to his feet and reached down to help her up by her arm.

"Wacht." Wash jerked her arm back.

Taylor shrugged his shoulders and tried the word out then shrugged again.

"Wacht." Wash extended her arm at him with the flat of her palm facing him then lowered it.

"Stop." He mimicked her hand motion. "Wacht…means stop."

She mimicked his head nod. "Gen. Wacht yent stop."

Taylor watched her stand keeping some distance from him.

He continued. "Yes." He nodded, "means Gen? Gen. Yes."

She nodded and dusted off her black clothing.

Taylor peered the translating system store the data as it analyzed. One analysis said some of the words were from several different languages or were slang, but did not have the meanings he was entering in for them.

He told the system to ignore that and to treat it as a new language.

He left it turned on where it could continue to receive more data and clipped it to the front of his gun harness out of the way.

"I haven't heard of someone having a head trauma then waking up to speak a completely new language. Right. We need to get back or at least to an outpost or weapons cache before night fall."

Taylor noted the position of the sun, time of day and the terrain.

He extended his arm out in the direction of the colony. "Let's go."

When she didn't move, he started forward and motioned her to follow.

"What?" Taylor shrugged his shoulders and held his hand palm up.

She pointed in the direction she had been running which was ninety degrees off. "Letzgon."

He shook his head no. "Let us go this way. Go." He moved his fingers to signify walking. "This way." He pointed in the same direction again.

"Go. Trayans. Go." Wash insisted in the direction of a hill covered with rocks and trees.

Taylor knew they couldn't stay where they were so he nodded at her believing he could change the trajectory once they started walking.

"Do you remember me?" Taylor quietly asked.

Wash kept two arms length between them and glanced over him.

Taylor pointed at her, "Do you…" He pointed at her head, "Remember…" He pointed to his face and swirled his finger in a circle, "Me. Taylor."

"Me." She pointed at him.

"No." He shook his head then put a hand to his chest. "Taylor."

She pointed at him. "Taylor."

He shook yes then pointed at her.

Wash put her hand on her chest. "Alisha."

He smiled. "Alicia."

"No." She shook her head. "Alisha."

"Alicia." Taylor insisted and pointed at her then ducked around a tree that was in his way.

She shrugged her shoulders and mutters a few things he did not understand. She nodded. "Alicia. Alisha. Gen dar."

"Yes. You're Alicia." Taylor allowed himself to smile as they approached the hill. "So do you… Alicia remember me…Taylor?"

She still looked confused.

"Gen means ummmmmm." He tipped his head from side to side then tapped his head shaking no. "Gen means…." He held up a finger and raised his eyebrows. "Yes." He pointed to his head. "I remember Gen means yes."

She nodded. "Delofta. Remember."

"Do you…Alicia…remember delofta me Taylor?" He did a series of hand gestures.

She stopped walking and shook her head no holding her palm down to the ground and swiped her hand to the side. "No. No remember Taylor."

His shoulders slumped then they started up the hill.

"Remember."

Taylor smiled and stepped closer when she spoke that one solitary word.

She held her hand to her mouth and fluttered her fingers. "Remember gifhu." She made a few consonant sounds and opened and closed her hand like talking.

"You remember my voice? Gifhu…voice. At least that's something. That's a start." Hope began to flood his system as he drudged up the terrain.

She said several things he did not understand and gestured that her eyes were closed and she was laying down. She then gestured to her ears and moved her hand again. "Remember Taylor voice." She made her voice sound as low and gruff as she could.

"You remember me reading to you when you were in Medical wounded." He did several gestures to convey what he was saying.

"Yes. Anne."

"Ok. You remember my voice when you were lying down sick and not before?" He kept using his hands to convey what he was saying.

"Yes."

They were half way up the hill before he spoke again. "Do you remember anything before that? Before you were sick?"

He kept up the hand gestures as they talked and she kept giving the equivalent as she quickly caught on to words now.

"Yes."

"Not me?"

"Not Taylor."

"What do you remember?"

She started speaking where he could not understand, but he made out a few words. Lucas. Phoenix. She gestured as if her wrist was attached to something and her eyes were covered.

"What about before Lucas and Phoenix?"

"Before. Go." She pointed to the top of the hill.

Now Taylor was interested in the significance of the hill they were almost to the top of. "You went there before? Why go now?"

She held her hands up as if she were steering then swooped her hand as if it were gliding.

"A vehicle?"

"Yes. Go."

Taylor didn't believe they would find anything and kept debating over what he thought was wrong with her.

"Aaaaahhhhhhh!" Wash rushed forward.

Taylor advanced with her. He felt dazed at the strange vehicle they discovered. It was only waist high and several yards wide.

He just stood there and blinked as Wash jerked branches off of it and talked in her own language.

Taylor finally snapped out of his trance when she pressed down in a certain patters and a console popped up glowing purple.

She chatted away pressing and moving things on it.

Taylor watched for about five minutes before he stepped up to it and ran a hand over the cool metal. He looked up at the sun thinking the metal should be warm.

"Go." Wash opened another panel and the top rose up creating a space large enough to walk into.

Taylor looked in seeing that it went partially underground. "I don't know about this."

"Go." She pointed and pressed another series of buttons.

Taylor gasped when everything but the opening went invisible. He reached forward to touch where the metal had just been and his hand could not lower that far down. "Force field?"

"Go Taylor." Wash stepped inside then motioned him in as he had done with her earlier when he tried to get her to go to the colony.

A sick feeling came over Taylor and he forced himself to remain calm. It didn't make any sense, but it was the only thing he could think of. "You're not Alicia."

"I am Alisha." Wash's face appeared strained.

Taylor needed more and saw in her voice she wanted to convey more, but did not know the words. "Where is Alicia?"

"Here. Go."

"Is she inside?" Taylor fought not to drop to his knees in despair. He kept reminding himself there must be an explanation.

She glanced to her own body and back to him. "Yes."

Taylor stepped inside wondering what else could possibly happen.

**A/N:** He always said "It can be done." Ohhh yes it can. You can survive OTG alone, if you are Taylor and Wash. Hehehehehe Ok I need to take a minute. I was writing a vehicle and it turned into some type of underground room? Facility? Large vehicle that is underground mostly? Invisible. Where is my subconscious going with this? A happy ending yes, but let's see where this goes.


	9. Chapter 9

**TN Wash's Return  
>Chapter 9: Revealing and Restoration<strong>

Pairing: Wash/Taylor

Characters: Ensemble

Genre: Ship, Angst, Adventure  
>Rating: R<br>Warning: Language, Angsty fun, but no death of main characters  
>Spoiler Alert: All of Season 1<p>

**Summary:** Post finale - As the colony gets restored, Taylor finds Wash is alive. Taylor tries to understand what is happening.

**AN:** This is my happy ending. It's the only way I can make sense of what happened because the ship must continue. I posted then made edits to chapters 1-5. I had 3 different things I could have done with this chapter and I like this idea the best. Hope you do too.

Taylor went down a short flight of stairs that spiraled knowing that she was following him. "Where is Alicia?"

"Here." She passed him and went to another console that had a chair attached.

"Yes, but where here? And why do you look like her?" Taylor held his hand out to the side indicating the room that was three times his Command Center.

"She Alicia. Me Alisha. Same."

He pressed his teeth together thinking about Lucas and the Badlands. "Yes you look the same. Are you from another alternate universe?"

She ignored him and started working on the console.

"Our Earth is a different Earth then this Earth. We traveled back in time and landed in an alternate Earth then our own. Are you from another alternate Earth?" Taylor spoke slowly wondering how much she would understand.

"Sssshhhhh." She never looked up, but continued to make adjustments that caused a holo-screen that seemed to be created with water appear before her.

Taylor stood behind her watching everything she was doing and though over the possibilities.

He guessed brain damage and memory loss was out because she didn't seem to have any cognitive problems. The technology in the underground room was more advanced than anything he had ever seen and she seemed to use it with ease.

He pondered if she was his Wash then maybe Lucas did some type of hypnosis or mind control on her. He shook his head no because that type of thing takes a lot of time. And he would know. He had been forced into experiments by enemies before.

She picked up three round disks and put them on her temples and forehead. She glanced down at her body and moved her fingers a few times in the air.

Taylor's mind cleared when she turned to him and took one of his hands in hers. "I go. She stay."

"I don't understand." Taylor stared at their hands then looked into the same whiskey eyes he had peered into for at least the last decade and fallen in love with.

"I sleep. When noise…" She pointed at the screen, "Remove." She indicated the three disks. "You and Alicia go." She tipped her head to the exit. "And I go."

"Ok. You go to sleep. When I hear it beep or something like that, I remove the nodes…then what?" Taylor leaned closer.

"Then Taylor and Alicia go out. I…Alisha here." She tapped the console. "Then I and here go."

"But where is Alicia so she can go with me?" Taylor's heart sped up and his hands became slightly sweaty.

"Here." Alisha tapped their hands to her own shoulder.

"If Alicia is here, then where are you?" Taylor was grasping.

"Here." Alisha let go with one hand and touched the side of her head. "Then go here." She placed the same hand on the console.

"This is Wash…Alicia's body. You're in it. In her mind. The nodes take you out and put you in the machine?" Taylor took his other hand back and did several gestures while talking.

"Yes."

"How did you get inside her mind?"

Alisha seemed to think for a few moments then looked back up at him. "Phoenis."

"Phoenix. But how did they do it?" Taylor feared that if they could put the consciousness of one person into another's body then anyone could be switched.

Alisha watched him not understanding.

"Hell. Jim could be Lucas for all I know." Taylor took several deep breaths and then worked at asking the question again.

Finally she shook her head yes. "Here. This." She tapped the console again.

"Anyone else get inside someone else's mind?"

"No. Alicia and me the same." She moved her hands and pointed to her face.

"You are Alicia in an alternate universe…other place. Same."

"Yes."

"Alright. You go to sleep and go into the machine. I remove the nodes when it beeps and take Alicia out of here. Right?"

She nodded yes. "I go."

"Will you be ok?" Taylor nodded his head down at her and saw in her eyes she understood the meaning without knowing the words.

She stood and gripped his bicep and nodded once. She put his other hand on her bicep.

Taylor remained still when she moved closer to him and tipped her forehead to him. He then slowly lowered his as well.

Alisha then moved closer so their foreheads would touch while they gripped each other's bicep.

Taylor grinned. "Is this kind of like hand shaking?"

"Remember. Voice." Alisha closed her eyes and tipped her head up so that the disc on her forehead was flush with Taylor's forehead.

He went to speak again and took in a deep breath, but a flash of light covered his vision.

Taylor felt as if he was floating then he heard Alisha speaking in her own language, but he knew what the words meant.

"Thank you Taylor. Thank you for rescuing me from them. My equipment malfunctioned and I ended up in this universe. I have the specifications to make it back, but I can never find my way back here again. So this is good bye."

Taylor could not speak so he thought words in his mind and hoped she could hear. "You're welcome. And thank you for giving her back to me. Will you be ok in the computer?"

"Yes. When I get home, I will clone my body and load my brain waves into it. Her body is almost identical to mine, but she has a little more muscle. I like it and will program mine that way as well. I will never forget you and the sound of your voice making me feel like everything would be ok. It brought me out of the darkness. You must love her very much." Alisha's voice in his head lowered in reverence.

"I do." Taylor thought the words knowing that she could hear.

The light dissipated and Taylor let out his breath. He blinked knowing that they had only been standing like that for one second or two, but it felt longer.

After his admission, Taylor felt a rush of emotions for Wash that he had been trying to hold back. He didn't care anymore and let go of the control he held over his expressions.

Taylor voiced his though out loud. "Stoicism has too high a price to pay."

Alisha brought her lips up and lightly pressed them to his before pulling back and away from him to climb into the chair.

"Is there a Taylor where you're?" He gave into curiosity.

Her eyes danced over his body then to his face. "Yes."

"Are you with him?" A wicked gleam flashed in his eyes.

"No, but maybe I go then yes." Alisha smiled and engaged the program that would remove her brainwave patterns from the body she borrowed.

For the next hour, Taylor paced back and forth while the holo-screen showed different light up areas of a mapped brain. And he waited for the noise or a beep anything that would let him know it was ok to remove the disks and get her out.

"What the hell?" Vibrations from the floor caused his body to tremble as if there was an earth quake.

A screeching siren blared and the holo-screen flashed then disappeared. "Ok that's a noise."

Taylor reached forward to remove the disc nodes from her skin and paused wondering if maybe it was malfunctioning or incomplete.

The tremor grew and he knew he would lose his footing soon, so he disconnected her. "Please gawd be ok."

He lifted her unconscious body and sprinted up the stairs to the exit. He continued to run because the ground was cracking and unstable.

Farther into the trees, he half set her down and half collapsed when dirt and debris buffeted his body. He covered her to protect her from the objects that continued to fall while sounds reverberated like the crash of a building being demolished.

He risked a glance and saw the metallic craft lift off of the ground high into the air and veer off toward the Badlands.

Taylor dusted them off and carried her farther into the trees knowing that predators would be drawn to the noise.

After a time of walking, Taylor could feel the strain from everything that had happened over the last few days.

"Finding you dead…then knowing you were alive…but nanites infested, woke you up and they ripped…apart your body, you almost…die again, kidnapped by Phoenix, my men were hunted by a Carno and Slashers, I took a…ride in the trees on the…Carno's head, had to kill it with a missile and a knife for gawd's sake, killed some Phoenix paramilitary, saved Elisabeth, stopped you from gutting…Guzman, chased you all over the fracking place, helped an alternate you…get out of your head, and now I'm practically jogging in the forest carrying you." He had to keep pausing for air as his body was using up all the oxygen as he carried her along at a quick pace.

Taylor hefted her over a fallen tree and half slid over rocks in the creek bed. "A man can…only take…so much. When I get back…I'm taking…a week off. Anything happens…Jim can deal with it. Carno rampage…he can deal with it…Lucas drama…he can deal with it. Housing unit is not exactly what I wanted…can we get an extension to make it larger…he can fracking by gawd…deal with it."

"Can the chatter." A whispered voice reached his ears.

"Wash?" Taylor set her down on some ferns and took her face into his hands. "Wash is that you? Can you hear me?"

Her eyes opened but never focused then closed again.

"Wash? Wash?" Taylor checked her pulse, which felt normal, and he saw her chest move up and down with air. "It's ok. I'm here. You're ok now. I've got you. You're safe."

She appeared to sleep again as clouds covered the sun.

Taylor gazed up at the display and knew there would be rain soon. "I've got to get you somewhere dry."

**A/N:** Well, what do you think? *glances around*


	10. Chapter 10

**TN Wash's Return  
>Chapter 10: Home<strong>

Pairing: Wash/Taylor

Characters: Ensemble

Genre: Ship, Angst, Adventure  
>Rating: R<br>Warning: Language, Angsty fun, but no death of main characters  
>Spoiler Alert: All of Season 1<p>

**Summary:** Post finale - As the colony gets restored, Taylor finds Wash is alive. Taylor tries to understand what is happening.

**AN:** This is my happy ending. It's the only way I can make sense of what happened because the ship must continue.

Wash tipped her head to the side and caught herself from shaking her head no again. "I just don't believe all of that. You're making this up for some reason. What really went on?"

Taylor sat back in a very familiar chair in the infirmary and waved over Elisabeth. "It's true. Why would I make this up?"

Elisabeth strode into the room beaming till she saw Wash's troubled expression and folded arms. "What's wrong?" She quickly glanced at the holopanel. "Everything appears to be alright considering."

Wash tipped her head at Taylor. "I think someone slipped him something."

Elisabeth folded her hands. "Actually, you were the one that was slipped something. I gave you some pain meds before you woke up. Don't be upset at me. We are all just so glad you're not dead again. No that didn't come out right. We are all glad you are alright."

Wash sat up feeling dizzy from the meds. She had to smack Taylor's hand away. "Stop that."

She looked up to see Elisabeth beaming again. "See it's some kind of sick joke. What really happened?"

"Everything he told you and probably more." Elisabeth bounced then rubbed her hands.

Wash slung her legs over the side of the bed and braced herself with her hands.

Taylor reached out toward her.

"Do it and lose an arm."

"You need to let him fuss a little. Its good for them." Elisabeth sobered remembering what a state Taylor was in when she was brought to Wash's housing unit to find him holding what he thought was her dead body in his arms. "After you acted as a distraction to save us, Taylor and Jim watched as you were shot in the head and fell dead to the ground. Everyone thought you were dread, and Lucas practically gutted Taylor like a fish. We patched him up then it became a matter of finding your body. Then they thought that he set it up to make it look like you were dead, so he could keep you."

Wash turned to Taylor watching him as he leaned back in the chair staring at the floor.

Elisabeth continued. "Taylor found you, but you didn't have a pulse. So once again he…we believed you were dead. We thought we just didn't find you in time."

Wash leaned forward trying to stay steady and rested her hand on Taylor's forearm, but he still would not look up.

Elisabeth clasped her hands squeezing. "I noticed you weren't decomposing then found a faint pulse. We tried to bring you back but you had nanites inside you. We had to keep you under or they were going to kill you. We devised a way to use the equipment and parasites from the death pear to attack the nanites. Taylor made the decision to continue with the plan because otherwise it would have probably mean a long death hooked up to machines as they tore you apart from the inside."

Wash glanced at her hand on Taylor's arm for a few moments before she spoke. "You told me…you said not to give up and to fight. I remember something like that. I remember your voice. And, you read to me."

Wash felt his gaze and returned it. "So it was all true. Nanites, parasites, the procedure almost killed me, then someone tried to kill me, we were kidnapped, an alternate me who took over my body almost kill Guzman and space ships."

Elisabeth couldn't stand to see the expression on Taylor's face any longer. "And Taylor hunted down a Carno with a pocket knife as Slashers tried to kill them both."

Taylor's head snapped up. "It wasn't a pocket knife." He turned to Wash. "It was my tactical."

"Well, all I know is you were hanging from its head with a knife. The bloody thing was running in the trees." Elisabeth held her hand out palm down and moved two fingers like they were running. "The slashers were following. Then we all thought he was dead. Then he took his time to radio in saying he was alive, but it sounded like he was playing chess. G3 or H2 something like that."

Taylor interjected. "It was map coordinates set up like a chess game."

"Fine. Then he found me and started shooting people in the leg to find out where you were."

Taylor cut in again. "It was one guy. One guy."

"You kept shooting him till he answered. Then when I tried to save Mr. Bullet Holes he killed him. And he still hasn't apologized for throwing me in the vehicle like a sack of umm apples no…potatoes."

"He would have gotten better only to kill you." Taylor shook his head.

"Then Taylor tackled you after he decided in their expert opinion you had brain damage." Elisabeth tried not to grin because Taylor was scowling and Wash started grinning at his frustration.

"She was talking gibberish."

"So you tackled a person you thought had brain damage?" Elisabeth folded her arms and tipped her head.

"I had to stop her. The Carnos would have found us and she kept running." Taylor stood up and started pacing.

"Fine. Just be sure you don't start shooting people again who don't answer your questions and tackling people with head injuries in my infirmary." Elisabeth strode out fighting not to laugh.

"It wasn't like that." Taylor stopped and turned to see Wash smiling at him. "She did that on purpose didn't she?"

"I think so." Wash grinned and slumped to the side. "When you got me back this time, how long was I out?"

"This time? Two days."

"Have you slept?" Wash inquired trying to sit up straight again.

"No. And now that you're back for real, I'm taking a week off. I just let Ogawa work on my wounds and she slipped me something for the pain too. That woman is relentless." He turned to leave knowing that if he stayed that he would fuss over her and make her agitated again. He told himself he had waited this long that he could wait a little longer to tell her how he felt.

"You love me." Wash stated.

Taylor froze in the doorframe and didn't move.

"I have these dreamlike memories of you reading to me. I can't see you, but I hear your voice. Every time you stop reading for the day you would say you loved me." Wash tried to stand up and slid.

Taylor lunged and caught her. "Stay in the damn bed."

"No, take me home." Wash stared into his electric blue eyes that were only inches away. If he was going to ignore what she said, then she determined she would too…for now.

Taylor stood her up straighter and stared off blankly as he remembered how he found her in her housing unit. He stopped masking his expression and let her see how he felt. "I'm not taking you back there while you're wounded. I'm not."

She reached up and gripped his beard giving a tug before letting go. It had grown out longer than usual. "Not there."

He squinted at her feeling that she now let him take on more of her weight so she practically clung to him while he held her up.

Wash glanced down at his arms then back up into his eyes. "Did you have them build a large housing unit for us or not?"

His eyes went wide for a second. He nodded.

"Then take me home and trim that think on your face so I can kiss you." She felt her strength giving out and decided to go with it for once. She thought it was only fair to let him fuss a little after all he had been through to get her back. Wash pressed her face to his shoulder and touched a light kiss on his neck. "I love you too."

He remembered how it felt to holding her thinking she was gone and he tightened his grip around her. He vowed to himself he would never let her go. "Let's get you home then. Do you want me to carry you?"

Wash stabbed a finger to his chest. "Don't push it."

**A/N:** All done. Wash is home, in Taylor's strong arms safe and sound. I feel so much better and thank you to everyone who left reviews and sent me messages about this fic. It does truly help me write. You are appreciated. *hugs*


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